Vanguard Slayer
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: Buffy encounters an enemy that she cannot defeat alone. After this demon kills Angel in front of her, can she possibly survive? Only with the teachings of a young warrior sent by the Watcher's Council to train her and her friends does she have a chance!
1. Judgment is Swift

**Vanguard Slayer**

Author: Joshua

Summary: In the middle of her Junior year, Buffy encounters an enemy that she can't defeat alone, and only with the teachings of a strange, lone warrior sent by the Watcher's Council to train her and her friends, can she possibly survive?

Spoilers: Up to "Bad Eggs" and beyond, but before "Surprise", which turns out very differently.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created and owns the Buffyverse, which is company owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions. "Chi-Armor" is, as far as I care, a semi-original concept, derived from multiple factual and fictional references, but the term and use itself is original to this story.

AN: Chi-Armor is NOT pronounced how it looks to the American, British, or even Japanese eyes, no offense. It is pronounced with the Greek approximation. Χ, or "ck-eye" is they way to pronounce it when you see the word put as Chi-Armor. If seen as chi or ki, _then_ it is pronounced how it is spelled.

Episode One: "Judgment is Swift"

It was night, as it often was in Sunnydale, and this night found Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer extraordinaire, where she often was on nights in Sunnydale. Patrolling in the cemeteries, hunting for vampires to slay.

And at the precise moment, she found herself hard pressed against a vampire, and a very hard place, in this case the wall of a mausoleum in the cemetery. Or maybe that should be pressed hard against the vampire?

"Oh Angel," she gasped as their kiss broke briefly to allow the blonde some much needed air and oxygen. Just that quick gasp and she quickly dove back into his mouth, pushing herself up against him as much as she possibly could. Her hands, as his were on her, were roving wildly almost madly across his body, trying to feel everything about him all at once and memorize every part of him.

"Buffy," Angel gasped back when their kiss broke again, this time so that the souled vampire could pick the small girl up, pressing her even harder between his body and the cold stone of the mausoleum.

She grunted in a mixture of pleasure and pain, glad of the change in position, and squirmed a bit to get more comfortable with it. As well as to entice certain reactions from her patrol partner for the evening.

She got what she wanted as an animal growl came from her semi-boyfriend, after only having a few dates and him being out of action these past few weeks, it had been quite a while since they had seen each other. This was their first night patrolling together ever since the whole deal with Spike kidnapping Angel to revive Drusilla.

"We... really should..." Buffy was trying to say between kisses, "... be... patrolling. Giles... will be... mmmhmm Angel! ... Giles'll be... mad... if we... don't! Oh god I want you!"

"I want you too!" Angel huskily whispered back.

"But we should get back to patrolling..." he added after another long kiss, immediately going into another after he'd spoken.

"Umhmm," Buffy mumbled through the kiss. They stayed like that for another entire minute.

Finally, the kisses became fewer in length, and then less in frequency as their consciences slowly forced them to stop before they ended up spending the whole night in one place. Angel put his girlfriend back on the ground, and then with very much regret, took two steps back from the wall of the mausoleum. Buffy took three steps away from it.

Without knowing how, or really caring either, they embraced each other once more and began another deep and passionate kiss. Again, their consciences forced them to slow down and stop, although they really didn't want to, the angel on their shoulders, no pun intended, was chattering like mad and it was either listen now, or be distracted and awkward later. They chose, reluctantly, to listen. For now.

"Right. So... patrol." Buffy stepped back, and then around the souled vampire, making sure there was enough distance between them to keep her from jumping him. Although given that she could jump over a twenty foot distance, it didn't help very much. But it kept her from doing it immediately.

"Right," Angel groaned and turned and widened the distance between them some more.

Now bathed in silence, they started walking through the quiet night, waiting, listening, and maybe even hoping to run into some vampires. If only to say they got one so they could go back to Angel's basement apartment for some more smoochy time.

"So..." Angel started to say, in hopes of starting a conversation to help pass the time quicker, and keep them from trying to shag in the middle of a grave yard. Buffy deserved better than that, he thought to himself.

"So..." Buffy responded a moment after he did. "Uh, my birthday's coming up. Uh, not to sound all 'me, me, me', but I just thought that... you'd like to know so that... you'd know."

Angel smiled at her, and she damn near melted on the spot. Definitely blushed. "I know. Willow told me the other week after that whole episode with the eggs. What do you want for your birthday?"

Buffy smiled, her blush deepening in the dark. Ducking her head slightly, she focused on her feet for a few more seconds before saying in a rather demure tone, "Oh... I don't know, I..."

"Well, well, well, look at what we've got here," a snide little voice interrupted the Slayer.

Both of them looked up, annoyance growing in Buffy's face while concerned amusement covered Angel's expression. "A nice little couple out on a stroll?" the vampire stepped out of the shadows and looked them both over.

He was about Angel's height, with short dark blonde hair, but he was dressed in some kind of uniform, although neither modern teenage blonde nor the 200 + Irish vampire recognized it. It was overall blue, with knee high black dress boots, off-white uniform pants, with a blue stripe going down the outer thighs, a black, gold buckled belt and then the primarily blue tunic with a lighter blue trimming the edges. A symbol, like a badge was over the left breast, directly over his heart. That subconsciously clued Buffy that a simple stake to the heart would not work with this vampire.

"Hey, ya mind sharing?" the cocky vamp asked Angel when he realized that he was a vampire as well.

The look of anger and pure insult that crossed Angel's face prompted Buffy into action.

"No, I don't think that I'll be sharing anything with you. Besides, Buffy doesn't like to share," Angel teased the unknowing vamp.

"Buffy? What the hell kind of name is Buffy?" the uniformed vamp stupidly asked.

In reply, he got a fist to the face that knocked him flat on his ass, followed by a sharp, and very painful kick to the ribs. Without hesitation, he leaped back to his feet and fell, far too easily for Angel's liking, into a martial arts stance and started eying Buffy with a very different look.

"So, you're the Slayer I've heard so much about," he snidely remarked. "This looks like it's going to be fun."

"Tell me about it!" Buffy grunted as she launched into a flying spin kick that connected and sent the vamp spinning to the ground once more. Before he could recover though, she leaped forward and drove a downward high kick into his back, forcing back into the dirt before he could even get to his knees, as well as causing him even more pain.

Before she expected him to though, he got back to his feet growling louder than before and his yellow eyes glowing brightly in the dark night. Surprised, but not letting it show, the Slayer kept her distance and started to slowly circle the strange vamp, waiting for him to give her something she could take advantage of.

Unfortunately, while the vamp could revive faster than she expected him to, he could also move faster than she expected, as he flashed forward and landed a devastating combo to the Slayer, knocking her to the ground at its end. But he wasn't finished yet, as he bodily picked her up and began throttling her.

Just before Angel lost control and would have body slammed the vamp to get him to let go of the woman he loved, the Slayer managed to get herself out of the mess by placing a well-timed kick, which the vamp, by holding her a couple feet off the ground, helped her with.

A loud scream filled the cemetery as the vampire released the Slayer and fell to his knees, opting for holding a much more tender area at the moment. Even Angel winced in sympathy with the vampire.

"Well, that was bracing," Buffy teased as she pulled out her stake, "but as much as orthodontia has changed my life, for the better I might add, I don't feel like retaining this fight any longer." And with that quip marked off her list of quips to use when staking vamps, she staked the vampire, which crumbled to dust, giving an almost grateful demonic cry as it did.

When Buffy looked up, Angel was giving her a weird look.

"What?" she asked, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.

He could only stare for several more seconds before he finally worked up the courage to ask, in a confused voice, "Orthodontia?"

Buffy gave a silly 'little girls' grin, while blushing with embarrassment, "Well... I've been trying to use big words, and being around Giles and all, and I did use to have braces, and... and... well it worked didn't it?"

Angel chose the wise man's route and remained silent. He just turned around and started walking so they could continue their patrol.

"Well, didn't it?" Buffy pleadingly called after him.

"Orthodontia?"

"It worked!" Buffy thoroughly insisted.

"But... orthodontia? You actually managed to work that into a quip? A good one?" Xander asked as they walked down the school halls to meet Willow at their lockers.

"Yes!" Buffy insisted again, this time adding a meaningful glare.

Xander quickly caught it and was smart enough to know what it meant. "I'm sure it was devastating to the now-dusted vampire's ego," he said with fake enthusiasm. Thankfully, for him, Buffy didn't catch the fake part.

Smiling, and satisfied for the moment, Buffy just nodded, adding mostly to herself, "It was," and they continued on, Xander wiping the sweat from his brow.

Willow was just putting her books away when her two friends walked up and opened their own lockers to do the same. "Hey Buffy! Hi Xander! I'm heading to the library for free period, are you coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it!" Buffy said with a smile, closing her locker with all of her books in it.

"Aw shucks," Xander comically snapped his fingers, "I've got a thing that I need to do. But be sure to give the G-man my best!" Quickly, he too shut his locker and then took off at a light sprint down the hall, opposite the Library.

"Xander! Wait! What thing?" Willow called after him, too late.

"Ah, don't worry about it Wills. You know Xander and, well... he's a guy. Not to mention, while I'll be training, and Xander would no doubt like to see that, Giles would force him to do the one thing that Xander hates more than being civil to Cordelia."

"Research," both girls answered simultaneously, walking into the Library.

And right into the middle of a very intense make out session between Buffy's Watcher and Willow's Computer Teacher. Without pause both quickly turned right around and started walking in the direction Xander had been going.

"Then again, do you think Xander might need some help with his thing?" Buffy asked, not considering the words before hand.

"I don't know, but I'd like to help with his..." Willow stopped talking as the implications hit her very fast-moving brain and her entire head quickly turned a bright shade of crimson, "BUFFY!"

"What? I..." suddenly the same implications, along with Willow's more than obvious embarrassment over their words came together in the Slayer's head, causing her to blush slightly herself. "Oh. Uh, lets just go, okay?"

"Yeah, leaving, exiting, and departing even," Willow added, moving a little bit faster.

"And by the way Wills, get your mind out of the gutter would you?" Buffy teased her friend. Willow just blushed very brightly and walked even faster.

Much to their private displeasure, Buffy and Willow couldn't find their Xander-shaped friend. But if they had any clue as to what his 'thing' was, they would have been much relieved in not finding him. Because at the same moment that the Slayer and Hacker were strolling by the janitor's closet on the way to the quad, Xander Harris and Cordelia Chase were in that same janitor's closet making out like their lives depended on it.

As his hands covered and roamed over her back, Cordelia couldn't help but mumble soft moans of delight as his, rather embarrassingly, experienced hands hit all the right spots. In response to her moans, as well as a few other actions her body gave against him, Xander groaned a little himself and deepened their kiss with more thorough tongue-action.

Working with that chemistry they inexplicably had, Cordelia responded right back, deepening the kiss on her end as well, and strange little tingles flew through the both of them. They finally broke the kiss, gasping for oxygen and staring at each other through dilated, lust-filled eyes. Before another second even passed, they were together in another passionate kiss, and Xander's hands moved around to the front, while Cordelia's started roving their own path across his back.

When his right hand rounded the edge of her cloth-covered breast, the moaning gasp of pure arousal had him at 'half-staff' instantly, and was quickly rising to 'full-staff'. He repeated the motion with his other hand, and brushed the same breast again at the same moment, and he was rewarded once more with the same sound, but a little more "needier".

Using his left hand to cup her ass, which lifted her up some and prompted her to deepen the kiss, he slowly strolled his right hand back up her torso, starting along the edge of her waist, and slowly moving up her abs to the front of her ribcage. Once there, he hesitated slightly, but the reactions the young woman in his arms was giving him said he could more than go ahead. He moved his hand the last bit upwards and smoothly, softly groped her breast, moving around the edges, but avoiding pressing hard, especially anywhere near the center.

She broke the kiss with a hoarse gasp, her eyes even more unfocused than at their most intense yet. "OH gawd Xander!" she moaned in passion.

Cordelia wasn't surprised to feel Xander's erection get extremely hard under his pants. What surprised her was the way it affected her. She could have sworn she actually felt herself get even more wet with arousal than she had been when Xander had just groped her breast!

"Stop teasing me already!" she gasped as she started necking him, pushing herself closer to him, to feel more of his body against hers.

_'Stop teasing, huh?'_ Xander thought with a perverted little grin.

With a little work, given how close Cordelia was pressing herself against him, he managed to work his right hand under the hem of her satin shirt, and his left hand just below the hem of her skirt, touching the skin of her thigh. The sudden skin-to-skin contact evoked new sensations in the both of them, their heart rates rising rapidly and their lust spiraling completely out of control.

Cordelia knew she should be stopping him. She always had stopped it, or he had before things had gotten to this point. Sure, they had groped each other's private parts before, and once she was sure that he'd even gotten off from her massaging his crotch, but right now...

Xander moved his right hand up a little until his fingers felt the quivering, hot skin of her torso, then he flipped his hand around so that his palm could also partake of the feast of flesh. Cordelia gasped in shock, but it gurgled into a groan of longing when his left hand slipped higher from her naked thigh to her right ass cheek, his fingers lightly grazing the edge of her thong.

They spent about another minute or so like this, his hands running over her skin, his right back and forth between her abs and her back, his left rubbing and squeezing her ass, and their lips and mouths were practically all over each other. Cordelia's own hands had become a little wild, and they were trying to work his sweater out of his jeans to get at his own naked skin.

Finally, they both felt things boil past a certain point and their movements became slightly more frantic. Xander's hands widened their patterns considerably, his right groping her lace-covered breasts, his left frequently running up and down the crack of her ass and over her panties. Cordelia suddenly abandoned trying to get his sweater off and her hands almost attacked his crotch in an effort to take off his belt and open his jeans. He was too focused on her willing body under his hands to even think of stopping her.

Not that he felt like stopping her.

They broke their kiss in favor of continued breathing, and while their hands continued to evoke pleasure never before known to the teens, their mouths turned to each other's necks. Xander kissed all along the side of her neck, and then kept moving up until he reached her ear and lightly nibbled her earlobe. She squealed in surprised pleasure and shivered in his arms.

Cordelia couldn't begin to describe all the feelings that were culminating in her lower pelvis, but she'd certainly never felt like this before in any of her other makeout sessions. Hell, it never felt like this even in her solo sessions!

When Xander's hand suddenly, maybe accidentally maybe not, pulled one cup of her bra away and left her nipple open to be caressed by his rough palm, a sensation so intense that Cordelia felt her vaginal muscles clench and twitch in a familiar longing as a small echo of it. She clenched her teeth and hissed out in pleasure, and her own hand accidentally slipped down his pants and covered his throbbing erection. Skin on skin. Xander clenched his own teeth and tensed his entire body so as not to lose control at that moment.

"Oh gawd!" Cordelia gasped when she came down from the mini-orgasm, "Oh my god! Xander... we... we've got to stop. Oh gawd, I don't want to stop. But we've got to. I... I, we've got to stop!"

"I know," he said, physically forcing himself to remove his hands from her body, and also forcing himself to ignore her whimpers of protest, "I know. If I did anything that was wrong, I'm sorry."

"Wrong?" she snapped. "Hell moron, you were doing everything _right_, and that's the problem. I've never... and I'm not ready to either!"

Xander blinked, and then he bristled slightly at being called a moron, despite it being combined with a compliment of immense proportions, especially for a high school student.

"Well I'm sorry Ms. Universe Revolves Around My Head, but I've never done this either. And actually you are quite possibly the only person that I can think of at this moment, or any other during the daylight hours, of even doing it with!" he snapped back.

Where any other girl would see the sweetest thing that could ever be said to them and go 'Awww', Cordelia Chase narrowed her eyes and took a half step forward, squaring her shoulders and retorted, "Yeah, well given what goes through your head most of the time, I'm not surprised that you get so hard so _fucking_ easy!"

Xander's eyes lost focus, and she was close enough that she could have sworn his cock had just throbbed in a really big way. "Say that again," he hissed quietly.

Cordelia knew instantly what he was talking about, and her own eyes became slightly more dilated and her nipples crinkled as she said in an insulting tone, "_Fuck_!"

In an instant, they were kissing again, and their hands, without consciously being aware of it, had moved back to where they had been moments ago. Beneath underwear and all.

They were so lost in their lust that neither of them could really remember later on what happened for the next few minutes, but when they finally regained enough of their senses to be aware of their surroundings, Xander's jeans and sweater, and Cordelia's satin shirt and thong panties were all on the janitor closet floor, and several very key body parts were more than easily visible to the other.

Cordelia blushed slightly as she stared unabashedly at Xander's very hard and erect cock, and felt his own heavy stare on her uncupped breasts. Despite having many boyfriends over the years, and even some hot and heavy makeout sessions with them, and others, in the past, Xander Harris was the very first person of the male persuasion, or really of _any_ persuasion, to see her in such a state. And not just nearly nude, but so hot and bothered that even in her own mind, she was practically begging for sex.

But they both knew neither of them were ready for sex.

And Cordelia would sooner go and open the Hellmouth herself and walk into it's snake-head mouths of her own free will than lose her virginity in the janitor's closet of her high school.

"Xander," Cordelia spoke, temporarily breaking the spell of their lust. "We... we can't... we, I can't... I'm not, _we're_ not... ready..."

She stopped speaking as he put his finger over her lips and shushed her with a gentle caress of a whisper.

"It's all right," he whispered, speaking as the man that he truly was, not the goofball of the Slayerettes, or the loser of Sunnydale High. He very rarely, and never under ordinary circumstances, displayed this side of himself, and not just to anyone either. Cordelia Chase, Mistress of the Public Mask, was one of the very few people to have seen it, and truly knew what it meant. After all, the man Xander Harris was one of only two, maybe three if you count the time that the Invisible girl kidnapped them and she confessed to Buffy, people that she had shown the _real_ Cordelia Chase to.

"But you know Cor," he continued, letting more of the teenager out as the man faded back to where he belonged, "I don't think that either of us can just let it go this time either."

She narrowed her eyes, not fully comprehending what he was saying.

"I mean, I'm certainly not suggesting that we . . . _do_ anything, but just picking up our clothes and walking out of here isn't an option anymore. At least . . . I don't think it is," he hesitated as he spoke, sounding confident and nervous all at once.

However, she had finally gotten what he was hinting at. Neither of them had cum yet, and if they did just get up and walk out without . . . finishing, the frustration alone would drive them insane before they went to bed tonight. And the gutter trap that her mind was, she instantly came up with several images and ideas about all the different ways they could . . . finish without actually doing anything.

"Um, Xander . . . " she hesitated to speak, but she had gotten his attention.

"Yeah Cordy?" he answered with a husky voice.

"I've . . . never . . . uh, done . . . that."

"That?" he repeated with a raised eyebrow.

She gave him a hard glare and reiterated, "You know . . . _that_!" she shifted her eyes to his now throbbing cock and then back to his eyes, which she glared at again because she knew they were laughing at her, even if he wasn't.

"What?" he replied 'innocently'.

"I've never given a blow job before," she said pitifully.

Just as he was about to argue that he was talking about _him_ finishing _her_ off, he did a double take and very stupidly squeaked, "_Never?!_"

She glared again, but it was less harsh than before, and a faint blush spread over her entire face. She silently shook her head no.

"But . . ." he lead, but she interrupted.

"I've made out before, and yeah, I've gone out with older men, college guys, even some guys out of college. But . . . the farthest I've gone is . . ." she stopped talking as she openly stared at his endowment before gulping and finishing her sentence, " . . . _this_."

"Whoa," Xander breathed, not quite sure what to say or even think.

Finally, he went back to his original thought. "You know Cordy, I wasn't talking about that. At least, not in the way you immediately jumped to the conclusion of. I was thinking more of me helping you along. I've gone with woodies before, hell, for a whole 9 hour period one day. I'm not in any danger of going insane. But . . . I've seen you after our . . . closet sessions before, and I wouldn't dare inflict the world with how bad you'd be after right now."

"Aw," Cordelia sighed. "That is the sweetest, and the stupidest, thing that anyone has ever said to me."

Xander grinned.

"Good."

"Oh," he held up one of his socks, which actually didn't smell **that** bad, "you might need this."

Taking the offering with a look of disgust, and despite it her level of arousal remaining unchanged, she snapped, "Why the hell would I need something this disgusting?"

Then he pushed her back up against the wall and pushed her skirt even higher and went to his knees, and before she could even think of asking him what he was doing, all thought left her as his mouth descended upon her pouty lips. And not the ones between her nose and chin.

Suddenly she understood what the sock was for as uncontrolled gasps and moans started pouring out of her mouth in increasing volume. Without hesitation, she took the sock in both hands and gagged herself with it, keeping it in her ever-tightening grip as Xander ate her out. And very well judging from the way her body was reacting and all of the feelings that were welling up within her.

First he gave long strokes with his tongue on all sides of her outer lips, like he was licking a popsicle or something. After the first three, she felt her lips swell with the building arousal amidst her orgasmic cries, and open like a petal blooming in Spring, revealing her inner petals and her fully erect clitoris.

At first, Xander just kept lapping away at her, licking up the arousal moisture her pussy was gushing by the liter. Then, just as she felt she would go insane from the pleasure, she moved his right hand down and opened her lips a little wider before he started to lick from the inside, starting at the bottom and moving all the way up to the cluster of hyper-sensitive nerves, eliciting an even stronger reaction from the head cheerleader than she'd given yet to date.

Xander almost stopped what he was doing when he heard and felt the woman he was doing things to that he had _never_ done, let alone thought about doing to another, scream aloud like she was in pain. Or very intense pleasure, but he was never very sure on the difference himself.

That is until Cordelia's hand slammed him on the back of the head, grabbed his hair, and literally shoved his face back into her pussy. Smiling to himself, Xander continued what he was doing.

He kept up the intense pleasure torture for several more minutes, making the brunette scream and moan again and again until he finally had mercy on her and sucked her clit into his mouth and very lightly nibbled on the button. A little nibble was all she needed and she exploded around him. Her body clenched like a Slayer's fist, and for a minute there he thought he would suffocate with his mouth and head being trapped against her, but what a way to go. When finally she sagged like her bones had turned to wet noodles and her muscles dissolved into melted jelly.

He moved up her body, softly kissing her flushed skin as he did, and held her and kissed her lovingly as she caught her breath and slowly regained her energy.

Cordelia knew such contentment in that moment that she felt like she was in heaven, until she opened her eyes and saw the janitor's closet. '_Next time_' she swore to herself, _'next time we do this, it will _NOT _be in a closet. It'll be on my bed. Screw daddy or the help!'_

Once she was herself again, Cordelia stood on her feet and Xander slowly stepped back from her, although still within touching distance.

"Xander?" she asked, her voice pathetically weak to her own ears.

When she said his name in that little-girl voice, Xander was so turned on he nearly fainted from the weakness in his knees and the bloodrush to his cock. "Yeah?" he squeaked.

She didn't say anything, she just slowly went to her knees, holding him still where he stood and with one hand began to feel up his raging member.

"C-c-Cordy," he stuttered, but was unable to get out any more as the sensations became nearly too much for his control.

"Sshhh," she hissed, and surprising even herself, kissed his cockhead.

"You don't have to . . ." he tried to protest, but she silenced him with a simple pump of her fist around him.

"I know. I want to," she admitted huskily. And with that, she went to town.

She started by licking up his entire length from the underside, sending shivers, both hot and cold, running through the poor teen's body. Seeing that reaction, Cordelia smirked and repeated it twice more before moving on and slowly sucked the swollen head into her mouth and twirling her tongue around it a few times.

"Oh gawd, Cordy, I-I, unnnhhhhhh!" Xander couldn't stop the groans from coming out of his mouth as Cordelia did things to him he had never imagined before.

She smirked around his cock in her mouth and tongue still swirling started to suck more and more of his length down her gullet. When he hit the back of her mouth, she backed off a little to prevent a gag reflex and took several breaths while her hands came up to keep up the stimulation for him. After what he did to her, it was the least she could do.

He almost hit a high note when she simultaneously squeezed his balls, softly and most definitely pleasurably, and swallowed his length back into her mouth. This time she didn't stop when he hit the back of her throat, instead she kept swallowing, like she was trying to eat a banana whole, and the visualization of that thought was not lost on her either. Before either of them knew it, Cordy's nose was nestled in the forest of his pubic hair and his cock was all the way inside of her mouth.

"Geezz-zzuzzzz!" Xander moaned as he stared down at her. As he stared, her eyes suddenly rolled up and her head tilted back some until their eyes met. Xander nearly lost all semblance of self-control right there at the sight alone, nothing to speak of the sensations that were already shooting up and down his spine.

A twinkling in her eye told him she was smiling at him, though it was difficult to tell given her position, but he smiled lovingly back down at her all the same. Then he really did lose all control as she focused her attention back to the task at hand and started to shift her head back and forth along his length, moving her tongue over his sensitive skin when she could, and also started to exert a little more pressure by sucking with each outstroke. _'Just like sucking a straw,'_ she thought with a tingle of arousal. From that day forward she would never look at 'sucking straws' the same way again.

Already so aroused and everything else combined, Xander couldn't last very long and almost before he could give her any warning, he lost his load. "Cordy . . . I'm gonna . . . CUM!!" he shouted as his hips jerked forward into her orifice shooting his semen into her willing mouth.

She was surprised, but handled it better than she had ever thought she might, because instead of gagging or panicking and backing off or something else, she just withdrew until only his head was in her mouth and kept up the sucking as she did, until she felt a salty-almond flavor taste on her tongue. Rather quickly she found her mouth was filling up and reflexively she swallowed all of the liquid or other fluids in her mouth. She felt a soft tingling at the back of her throat, but other than that and a very pleasant aftertaste, she felt no ill-effects. Seeing no harm in it, once her mouth had filled up once again, she swallowed down his cum and continued until he finally ran out.

Xander stared in total shock and amazement, limp as a noodle after his own orgasm, at the woman still on her knees before him. Despite the submissive posture, in his eyes she was one of the most amazing and awe-inspiring creatures alive.

Withdrawing from his now softening cock, Cordelia wiped around her mouth some, mostly checking for drool, and absently noticed that after she did so, Xander's cock stopped softening and actually recovered a little of it's stiffness. Smirking with the power she now felt she had over him, she stood up. Only to be assaulted by his mouth as soon as she was to her feet.

She gasped into his mouth, and then melted into his body as she discovered that whatever power she had over him, he had the same power over her, as she responded to him. Finally, for air needs, they broke the kiss and Xander spoke first.

"Wow Cordy, that was . . . that was . . ."

She smirked once again at his loss of words.

"Amazing!" he finally found a word that, while in his eyes fell short, still conveyed what she had done for him meant. "I . . . I . . ." he tried to think of more to say.

She just patted him on the chest, still smirking, and silently savoring the taste in her mouth. "That's all right dweeb boy, I understand."

He regained a little more of his strength and mimicked her smirk as he asked, "Are you sure you've never done that before?" At her blush, his smirk deepened, but he decided to for once take pity on her. He held her and softly kissed her on the lips once more. "Thank you. I'll . . . that was amazing and if I could ever do anything to make up for that . . ."

"Chill out Xander," she interrupted him. "You already did. What you did for me, I was just paying you back for that. Now." She broke out of his grasp and started to pick up whatever clothing of hers that had been taken off. "Let's get dressed and then we can get out of here. I've still got a ton of homework to do."

"Yeah," Xander agreed, actually grateful for the subject change and started to find and fix his own clothing.

Buffy and Willow were sitting in the courtyard on a bench. There were few people around them, most of the students with free periods using them in the lounge instead of outdoors in the Southern Californian heat. Buffy and Willow however enjoyed the outdoors just as much as the indoors, even with the heat. At least it wasn't too humid, they both silently mused.

"So . . ." Buffy began, wondering what to talk about for a moment. Normally it was so easy to do the girl talk thing, especially with Willow, but with the major ickiness of seeing Giles and Miss Calender kissing she was finding it difficult to come up with a safe, un-'eww' topic.

"So . . ." Willow repeated, staring back at the blonde. Finally her hyper-active, non-gutter visiting mind came up with something and she asked, ". . . how's Angel, after the whole thing with Drusilla and him now patrolling with you I guess he's very," she paused to smile happily, "up and about nowadays, but back to my first question, how is he?"

Buffy smiled, remembering last night before they had come across the vampire, which she and Xander had been discussing, and because of this distraction of thought did not properly censor her words as she answered Willow's words. "He's great, and he is definitely *up* and the only thing he was about last night was me." Then she giggled, her eyes dreamy and non-focused on the here and now.

"Oh?" Willow made a questioning noise, until her hyper-active brain caught up with Buffy's allusions and gave her the complete picture. In high-definition color too. "Oh! BUFFY!"

"What?" then the blonde's own brain caught up, both with what she said, and who she said it too. "Oh. Uh, sorry?"

Willow just blushed, but tried to soldier on as it were. "So, Angel's doing okay?"

Smiling, and slightly blushing herself, she silently thanked her friend and replied, "Yes. Angel is well. He healed up from that ritual thing and he's the same broody, dark handsome self that he's always been."

"That's good. I heard you and Xander talking about last nights patrol before he took off, did anything happen?"

"Nah," Buffy quickly went over the same story she had told Xander earlier, although she decided to leave out her quip this time, seeing the noise her male friend had made about it already. Willow, opposite of Xander, moved right to the important part, worrying, which is what she did so well in her relationship with the Slayer.

"A vampire wearing some kind of uniform?" Willow repeated. "That could be bad Buffy. What if that vamp had belonged to some kind of organization or cult thing like the Order of Teraka? Well, obviously not the Order of Teraka because obviously they only have a ring for their people instead of a whole uniform, but it could be somebody or something similar to the Order of Teraka, and . . ."

"Wills! Breathe!" Buffy quickly interrupted the, however cute still tedious, Willow-babble.

The redhead stopped speaking and took a deep breath before regaining normal breathing habits and continued where she had left off. "Really Buffy, what if . . ."

"I learned not to kill myself with 'what ifs' a long time ago Willow," Buffy told her, holding the girl's hand and being a comforting presence. "Like, what if I die tonight? What if a vampire gets invited to my home and turns my mother? What if some other vamp gets lucky and gets Xander or Giles or even you? What if I flunk out of high school? Things like that, I don't let it bother my thinking Willow. Otherwise some vamp _will_ get lucky and I _will_ die, or worse some night on patrol."

"OK, yeah, I see your point," Willow looked down, but half a second later looked back up. "But I'm serious Buffy. What if this vampire that you killed last night was part of some bigger organization or cult or something that may be moving in to take over the Hellmouth or something first?"

"Well, right now, Spike is pretty entrenched as the Master vampire," Buffy mused, "So there would be a power struggle before there would be any teaming up to take me out. And it was a vampire Will. I'd be more concerned if this hypothetical cult were made up of thousands of the worst of the worst demons out there, but vampires? Especially ones that pathetic? I'm not too worried. But since you are, the moment we can, I'll go tell Giles about it and he'll probably do some research, make some calls, the usual thing. See, nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but what if it *is* something to worry about?" Willow countered.

Which Buffy countered with a 'what did I just tell you' look.

Smiling sheepishly, Willow ducked her head some and blushed, but not the full flame it had been earlier. "You know you are very pretty when you blush Willow," Buffy told her straight up, "If you didn't duck down every time you did it, or maybe put on some make-up to make your skin tone stand out a little more then I have no doubt the guys would be flocking to you."

Willow blushed again, but this time she kept her head held straight as she answered her best friend, "Oh, I don't know. And besides, I don't handle the opposite sex very well. Xander and Giles and my dad . . . well they're like family, although a lot of the time I wish Xander were more than that . . . Anyway, I don't think I could handle guys flocking to me. I'd probably get real tense and jittery and squeak a lot."

"Which is something we obviously need to work on," Buffy consented. Self-image problems could usually be handled by a makeover, chronic and intense shyness was an entirely other matter. Still, the Slayer was very much up to the challenge. Now if only there was a guy for Willow . . .

The factory was a rather dull, and crowded, place during the daylight hours, but for Spike, Drusilla and their minions, it had been home for the past five months. Some even longer than that, having been followers of the Master and the Anointed One.

However today was a rather bad day, and the unknowing vampires were about to find out it was going to get a lot worse. Spike, still recovering from being buried in a burning church, rolled out from his and Drusilla's bedroom onto the main floor. None of the minions milling around there dared to even give the Master vampire a sideways glance. Not after what had happened the first time some idiot made fun of Spike rolling around in a wheel chair.

As he was mulling about, he noticed that Drusilla came out of their bedroom to join him, looking quite frightened. Something that didn't bode well for any of them, he knew from experience.

"What's wrong pet?" he asked upon seeing her expression.

"The stars . . . they scream their warnings at me . . . they scream of the darkness, the end, the Omega comes," she whimpered, sounding terrified and strangely lucid at the same time.

"What is it? What is this Omega?" he asked, desperate for more information.

"They come," she whimpered. "We'll be driven out, but they come not for us. There will be a war. Terrible, terrible fighting, and oh how I will dance in the blood drenched reeds like a thorny picket in the rain," she started to dance and talk in a sing-song voice, so Spike knew that the vision of whatever was coming had either passed or become too much for Dru to stand, so she retreated into her insanity.

He grabbed the nearest minion and growled out, "Double the guard. I want this place to be a virtual fortress before nightfall. Somethings coming and it doesn't bode well for us. GET MOVING!!"

"Cripes, I hate dealing with minions," Spike muttered to himself as he rolled along to the long-table in the center of the room. "Might as well bloody dust them all for all the good they do me."

The moment he said that, suddenly then entire building was rocked with a series of ground-pounding explosions. For a moment, Spike was afraid the roof was going to collapse on him again or let in the sunlight, but instead it seemed that all around the factory, the ground had exploded, leaving dusty holes coming up from the sewers beneath the building.

Before any of the vampires could really react, blurred figures launched out of the holes and faster than any of them could react started to fight and then dust all of the vampires in the factory. Save for the two near-cowering at the table in the middle of the room. Within 50 seconds of the explosions, all of Spike's minions were part of the settling dust and he and Drusilla were the only vampires left undead . . . except for the fifty some odd vamps in strange uniforms, which had done the dusting of Spike and Drusilla's minions.

"What the bloody hell is the meaning of this!" Spike demanded, getting enough of his backbone back to speak.

Surprisingly quick, a deafening hush fell over the entire building. Even the normal creaks and groans of the old structure, and the settling dust seemed to quiet down after Spike's demand. Until. . .

Footsteps. Loud, heavy ones at that. Drusilla, beside him, began to tremble slightly, holding herself closer to him without actually crawling into his chair with him. After several of those booming steps, Spike thought he could see some movement in the ranks of blue and beige uniformed vampires.

Finally, after almost a minute of tense waiting, a demon appeared amidst the ranks of vampires. Then, just as quickly as Spike noticed the demon, all of the uniformed vampires between Spike and Drusilla, and the demon stepped to the side in a simultaneous, almost military movement, revealing the demon to the two master vampires.

It, or rather he, was just over seven and a half feet tall, almost nine with his boots. He was dressed in dark, coarse leather armor, with padded black, steel-studded cloth covering his arms and legs between the leather. His defining demon traits, first and foremost was that he had blue skin, was completely hairless, and had six consecutive ivory-looking horns, three on each side, on his head, almost like some kind of natural made crown. It had blood red eyes, through and through, and physically it looked age wise like a late 40-year-old human. Of course with demons, that could just mean that it's several thousands of years old.

"The meaning of this is quite simple," the demon said in a strangely proper voice, sounding New Zealand-ish. "One of my warriors did not report in this morning. My warriors _always_ report in. Unless they are dead, or delayed. Oh, and excuse me, I seem to have forgotten to introduce myself." He made a short demi-bow, and when he straightened his face was entirely serious as he introduced himself, "I am the Judge."

Spike and Drusilla just stared for several long seconds, trying to work through their minds . . . or rather Spike was trying to figure out what this demon meant with all of his ramblings so far. Lucky for Spike though, who normally makes fun of demons with simple funny names, the Judge's reputation preceded him.

Gulping and trying not to soil himself, Spike answered to the Judge as respectfully, and fearfully as he was able. "Uh, uhm, wi-wit-with all-all d-due respect, your Judge-ship, but what does that have to do with me? You're missing warrior that is."

"It is customary for one to introduce themselves after another had just done the same," the Judge monotoned.

Scrambling almost, if he weren't paralyzed from the waist down, Spike hastened to correct his mistake. "Oh, um, right. Sorry bout that. I'm Spike, William the Bloody, of the Scourge of Europe, and this is Drusilla, my sire and . . ." Spike hesitated, almost holding the information back, but he knew that it could make the difference on whether or not the two of them would be joining their minions or not, " . . . a vampire seer. Driven insane by Angelus before being turned."

The Judge shifted his gaze immediately to Drusilla, who whimpered slightly before meeting the Judge's gaze. Shortly after though, her eyes glazed over and she started to hum a strange melody to herself. The Judge smiled wickedly at this, but returned a scowl as he looked back at Spike.

"As I said, my warriors only fail to report in when killed . . . or delayed," he repeated.

Spike finally caught on and he couldn't hold back a snort of contempt. "And you think I'm holding him here? Puh-lease. Only vamps I let in . . . er, normally let in are minions only. Strangers don't really get along too well with . . . uh, that lot. Nor are they much welcomed. And . . . if I had known one of your warriors was in town, WHICH I DIDN'T, I would have made sure to steer clear of him and not delayed him for a second of anything! And if the only other option is that he's dead, why not go harass the bloody Slayer. She probably wasted his arse last night!"

"The Slayer!" the Judge exclaimed. His minions knew it was excitement that tinged his voice, but Spike and Drusilla were afraid that they were about to be burned away by the Judge's wrath.

"Oh, this was a wonderful idea, coming to the Hellmouth," the Judge exclaimed to his minions. "The Slayer. I've heard many things about this one. She defeated Nest, didn't she?"

Spike only nodded in numb agreement.

"And you, and your own warriors have survived her existence?"

Spike shrugged and felt like bragging a little. "Well yeah. Hey, I'll have you know I've done in two other Slayers all by my bloody self. This one . . . well she's got some friends that help her out, and she's got a mean right hook, but as soon as I heal up I'll be back in the game to take her out!" Spike growled with his own excitement.

The Judge stared at Spike with new respect, that is to say a very small amount of actual respect where before there had been none. "You're _that_ William the Bloody?" he asked.

A little intimidated, Spike nodded and answered softly, "Uh, yes sir."

The Judge broke out into a savage grin, showing off broken yellowed teeth. "I like you're style. You and your sire get to live. I may even take you on as one of my warriors. And I always treat my warriors well. Get them some nourishment. I have . . . plans to make for this Slayer. Come . . . Spike was it? Tell me of this Slayer. I wish to know her every move so as to be prepared."

Spike matched the Judge's grin at that and rolled around to join the big blue demon at the long table. "Well, now you're talking my kinda business." Spike began to talk with the Judge.

"So you say that this vampire's clothing appeared to be a uniform of some sort?" Giles asked as he walked around the Library table.

The entire Scooby Gang was present, Angel was in a shadowy corner, answering questions cast his way, Willow was sitting next to Xander on the left side of the table, while Buffy and Cordelia sat opposite them. Ms. Calendar, or Jenny as Giles often called her, was sitting on the table at the far end, facing Rupert as he paced around the table, writing in a book as he did.

"Yep. White pants with that military stripe on the sides that you usually only see with the marines, only it was a blue stripe, not the red on navy the actual marines have. Then he had on some kind of blue silk shirt and then there was that symbol that he had over his heart. It was on some kind of black material stylized in gold." Buffy answered.

"Do you remember what this symbol looked like?" Giles looked up to ask his question.

"I do," Angel answered and stepped forward from his shadowy corner. He handed Giles a folded piece of paper. "I figured it be important, so here."

Giles took the paper and quickly unfolded it to reveal the symbol. He frowned, until Angel turned the paper around in his hands, showing that the Watcher had been holding it upside down. "Ah," he said gratefully until he looked back at the paper, and then frowned again.

"Giles? What is it? That is not a happy face. That is a worried, could be an apocalypse about to happen face," Buffy demanded to know.

"Uh, well, I'm not quite certain," Giles admitted. "I, well this symbol could be a reference to some kind of demonic cult, or it could be something this vampire stole off a biker he recently killed. It . . . does _seem_ familiar, but I'm afraid I cannot properly identify it without some more research. Nevertheless, if this vampire was a member of some kind of demon cult, they may take his premature death, or rather permanent death, as an offense. So I believe that caution is in order for the next few patrols."

"Uh Giles? Duh! I go out and kill the undead. In what way is caution _not_ a part of this?" Buffy sarcastically asked.

"Yes, well . . ." Giles stuttered.

Finally he snapped out of his stupor and glared at the Slayer. "All well and good Buffy, but knowing how easily it is that you are . . . are prone to distraction, I think that it would be prudent if I sent a chaperone with you on patrol for the next few nights."

"Giles, thanks for offering, but you tend to get knocked out by demons and vampires more than I get 'distracted'," Buffy retorted back, severely annoyed, and embarrassed.

Thankfully Angel couldn't blush as he said in Buffy's place, "That would probably be a good idea. Another person on patrol could always help, and I'm sure that Giles is more than capable of handling nightly patrol . . ."

"Yes, well, I must stay and research this symbol, so I am afraid that that won't be me. Actually, given that you might not have anything to do for the next few nights, I was hoping that Xander might accompany Buffy and Angel on patrol." Giles told them.

Xander suddenly looked up, stunned. "Me?" he asked, sounding as surprised as everyone else in the room was. Then he actually thought about it, in the terms that Giles was not implying from the start. If Giles couldn't go, that left him, Cordelia, Jenny, and Willow. A cheerleader, a computer teacher, or a computer geek that squeaked at her own shadow. Out of that, he was the best choice.

"Uh, okay," he hesitantly agreed.

"Don't worry Xander, I hardly expect you to go out unprepared. We'll get you fully equipped, and I'm sure that you can handle a crossbow, especially after that debacle at Halloween," Giles helpfully reminded them all.

"Right, the whole point and shoot philosophy. I am quite familiar with that," Xander nodded, starting to get excited, and now really looking forward to riding Deadboy's goat all night. . . . Not literally, metaphorically.

Buffy was groaning inside, but she kept it to herself. Besides, it wouldn't be *too* bad. Xander was fun to have on patrols sometimes. Especially when there really wasn't much happening. And he had been useful against that egg demon that had been beneath the school, so he wasn't completely helpless or unable to fight, he just wasn't the best fighter they had. But again, she wasn't planning that much of anything would happen for the next week or so, what with Spike and Drusilla taken out of the picture, so it could be fun.

"Right well, let's get Xander outfitted for patrol and we'll call it a night. Oh, and Buffy, Angel, if you wouldn't mind stopping by after patrol is over? Just to check in, make sure that everything is staying quiet," Giles asked.

"Sure, not a problem," Angel answered, seeing that Buffy was somewhat distracted.

Giles and Willow took Xander over to the cage and started sorting out the weaponry there and Xander started packing away stakes, bottles of holy water, crucifixes, while Giles got out the big weapons and Willow handing him the smaller stuff.

The night before, Angel and Buffy had covered the inner city cemeteries as well as the downtown areas where vamps liked to stalk. So tonight, with Xander they started at one of the outermost grave yards.

Xander, carrying the crossbow between him and Angel, also with a sword strapped to his hip and more than a dozen stakes hidden around his person, was nervous, and more than he had a right to be. Of course, that nervousness was affecting his mood and speech patterns.

"So, uh, you guys are pretty sure that that vamp with the uniform, which I find highly unorthodox in the way that the Hellmouth is supposed to operate, I mean what if all of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of some vampire turf war and are we supposed to pick one gang over the other, or are we supposed to be the police in this matter and fight everybody and everything? Anyway, you're sure he doesn't have like a posse coming after us for revenge or anything like that?"

Buffy was fighting the smile trying to crawl onto her face, while Angel had the closest thing his brooding face ever had to a smile. "It's been a quiet week Xander, and it's not Tuesday. So don't worry. I imagine this'll just be a regular normal patrol," Buffy told him.

"Well, if you say so," Xander tried to sound nonchalant about it all of a sudden. Then he stopped walking and Buffy and Angel wondered why he was looking behind them.

"Uh, Buff?" he asked, his voice now sounding like it was bordering on squeaking.

"Yeah Xander?" Buffy asked, starting to get a mite bit annoyed with her friend.

"Those uniforms that vamp was wearing? It was white pants with a blue stripe, black boots, and a blue shirt with a sort of vested black symbol that looks like an upside down horseshoe over the chest, right?"

Buffy frowned and shared a look with Angel before answering, "Uh, yeah. Hey, I don't remember telling you what that symbol looked like and Angel handed the drawing straight to Giles. How'd you know what it looked like?"

"Well, a wild guess here, but maybe because I'm seeing it right now on all of the vamps that are now surrounding us?" Xander did squeak this time.

Buffy and Angel tensed, and then slowly turned around, and stopped. From just the first glance, Buffy counted almost 30 vampires in the massed group before them, and at the head of that hoard was a demon that, for once, did not match with all of the uniformed vamps. The demon, which was obviously the one in charge at the moment, had pale blue skin and short ivory horns all around its head, but below the neck it was covered in hard leather armor. Hard leather armor that molded to a seven and a half foot solid, packed muscled frame that held untold amount of power. And the cocky, smarmy grin on it's face didn't bode well for them either.

For several minutes the Slayer and her friends, and the demon and it's vampires just stared at one another across the short distance of barely 20 feet. Then the demon cocked it's head, like it was silently laughing at them, and he uncrossed his arms.

"So," he said with a slightly proper accent in a deep voice, "you're the Slayer that vanquished Marcus? He was an idiot trainee anyway, not that I mind you killed him, but any Slayer that can defeat and destroy one of my warriors deserves my attention . . . and see if she can do the same to me."

The humor in his tone was not lost on Buffy, and she had no doubt that this thing was mocking her. She hated being mocked.

"Great, so let's just get this over with already, I've got homework to do ya big smurf!" Buffy snapped back, getting into a fighting position. Xander, just behind her, took a few more steps back so he could take out the crossbow and fit a couple of wooden bolts into it. He also made sure that the sword he carried was in easy reach.

"By the way, you got a name for me to scribble on your tombstone with your own blood?" Buffy snarly asked.

The demon just smirked at her and crossed his arms again. "I am known as . . . The Judge."

Buffy and Xander almost both made rude comments about corny names, but they were distracted by Angel's reaction to the demon's name. Obviously he _had_ heard of the Judge.

"Ah," the Judge took notice of the vampire, "You must be Angel. Cute. Spike told me about you as well. This should be an interesting fight. Kill them, but don't get in my way," the Judge ordered. Instantly, moving like a well-trained infantry, the 30 vampires surged forward, taking away Buffy and Xander's chance to ask Angel what he knew about this Judge demon.

Xander didn't hesitate, in fact one might go as far as to say that he moved before thinking as he raised the crossbow, pointed it at a vampire and fired the wooden bolt. Either through dumb luck, or because the vampire had thought Xander had actually aimed and tried to dodge, but the vamp that Xander shot at was dust the moment the arrow reached it.

Angel finally fell out of his funk and he moved forward with Buffy to meet the charging vampires. They ducked and dodged the first few hits their many opponents sent their way, using the opportunities to land as many of their own hits as they could while inside the vampires' defenses. Buffy, not long after Xander's arrow dusted the first vampire, dusted the second of the evening with a quick flash of her stake through it's heart, and moved on to the rest before they lost the advantage. That unfortunately didn't last long as, unexpectedly the vampires quickly countered the duo's attacking and before too long it was an even match, except that there were over 25 vampires and only two defenders.

Xander opted for running for cover rather than risk being taken hostage, not that many of the vampires even glanced twice at him. That was surprising enough on it's own, vampires actually following orders. Unfortunately for Buffy and Angel, those orders were to kill them. Fortunately for Xander, that gave him enough time to string another bolt from his hiding place. He didn't bother aiming, knowing his aim was so off he'd probably hit Buffy while aiming for the big blue demon, who was on the far side and in the complete opposite direction of the Slayer. So, he just pointed his crossbow and pulled the trigger.

If ever Xander was confronted about what power he contributed to the group, he decided, he would tell the person that his power was dumb luck, because he obviously had a lot of that going on as he dusted another vampire, and then another with his next shot. Three vamps dusted in one night. Cordelia would be so proud, he thought to himself.

Then he stopped and almost impaled himself with his next arrow as he slapped his head, wondering where on Earth, or Hell, that thought had come from.

Buffy meanwhile, while grateful for the long-range assistance Xander was providing, much preferred concentrating on the vampires around her and Angel. They were definitely experienced fighters, and that was giving the Slayer more trouble than she wanted. So, deciding to fight dirty and win rather than play by the rules, Buffy made most of her kicks angle to in between the legs of the vampires, giving her the opportunity to dust some, while at other times it was just enough of a distraction so she could concentrate on one vampire at a time.

Angel was just moving as fast as he possibly could, using his weapon, a wooden stake, to the best of his ability, and trying to avoid having it turned against him by the other vampires.

For a minute or two, the Judge just hung back, watching the two fend off his vampire warriors. The fighters were good, better than he expected, and therefore better than Spike expected, which is probably why the bleached blonde vampire was in a wheel chair and both Buffy and Angel were still alive and kicking. The Judge winced as one of his warriors cried out in a high-pitched squeal after one such kick from the Slayer. Probably a good thing that she dusted that one immediately after, it would have taken at least a decade for that to heal properly.

Finally, the Judge felt a familiar and yet long forgotten rush enter his body. The rush of an anticipated battle. With a savage and demonic grin, he trudged forward into the mass of vampires and Slayer.

After killing his ninth vampire, Xander was running low on arrows. Unfortunately his perfect aim streak hadn't lasted very long and most of his shots only served to distract the vampires directly around Buffy and Angel, hitting them in the leg or the arm or the shoulder. Occasionally he managed to dust a vampire with a two shot, one in a non-vital area to get him to turn around and face Xander, the second a heart shot. As good as all these vampires were, Xander was just grateful none of them could pull off that catching the arrow in mid-air trick.

Then he noticed the big blue demon heading into the fight and knew this couldn't be good. So, using one of his last two arrows, he aimed for the demon's head, it's only unprotected part, and fired. The arrow flew straight and true . . . and bounced off one of the demon's horns, but startling it enough to make it halt its progress, giving Buffy and Angel more time. At least Xander told himself that was his plan. He quickly loaded his last arrow and took aim quickly, hoping to hit the things eye, or at the very least give him a scratch on the cheek. He fired, and probably would have hit the Judge's eye, if the blue skinned demon hadn't held up one of his vampire minions, allowing Xander to dust his tenth vampire of the night.

And unfortunately for the non-supernatural demon hunter, it was also his last arrow. Gulping, he dropped the crossbow and held up the sword he had been given with both hands, waiting to see if any vamps would actually come his way. He wasn't stupid enough to go charging in swinging the bladed weapon like a baseball bat in a batting cage. At best he would get himself killed instantly, and at worst he would distract Buffy at a critical moment which would get all of them killed.

Seeing that the little boy with the crossbow was no longer a threat, no matter how pathetic and unimportant of one, the Judge turned his attention back to the Slayer and her pet vampire.

Buffy was doing the best she could, which was saying something of a Slayer, but unfortunately she had only managed to get about ten of the trained vampires herself. She had run out of stakes after the seventh one, and after that relied on whatever wood or trees were around, or decapitating them with the sword Xander had tossed to her, from that point on relying on his supply of holy water and crosses.

It wasn't until one vampire got in a lucky shot that knocked the bladed weapon away from her that she finally noticed the blue demon calling itself The Judge, was heading right for her. She spin kicked the offending vampire, aiming her foot at the neck, instantly breaking it's neck and keeping it out of the fight for a few minutes.

Angel, who'd been nearby and had only done enough to keep Buffy from being overwhelmed, which was more than enough by itself, had only gotten about three or four vampires, as he staked the one Buffy had just broken the neck of, and throwing his last stake as a dagger, got the one that had been trying to sneak up on the Slayer as she dealt with three of the remaining vampire warriors.

The Judge, having taken his time, wasted no more of it, planning on ending this quickly and then tormenting the vampire for a while by disgracing her corpse after a single punch to the back of her head. He hadn't expected, but didn't let that affect his fighting, her to duck half an instant before his armored fist would have connected.

Buffy felt the demon at her back, the little hairs on the back of her neck giving her just enough warning to dodge the demon's and the vampire's attacks and while she was down there, kicking the vampire away, and then spinning her extended leg in an attempt to sweep-kick the demon to the ground. Unfortunately, all she managed to do was kick it really hard on its thigh.

It was only enough for her to back up and get her bearing straight, and then she was forced on the defensive as the larger and far more powerful demon swung at her with controlled punches and kicks, making the demon all the more dangerous. It wasn't as fast as the Slayer, a good thing, but it was obviously a lot stronger than her and it knew what it was doing, a very bad thing. Buffy tried to fit in a couple high kicks and even low-blow punches, but if her attacks had any effect at all, they weren't much.

Grinning savagely, the Judge kept up the slow pace to lure the Slayer into a very small sense of security. Just for the fun of it though he briefly increased his speed for precise moments to land one hit or two, causing the Slayer to cry out in pain as she was knocked several feet back and to the ground. She got right back up of course, he wasn't bored enough to use full force yet.

Angel, being distracted by the last five vampires, watched on helplessly as the Judge toyed with Buffy, every blow that he landed knocking her back, while that wasn't as often as her own hits, hers weren't even having an effect on the demon that he could see.

Xander knew he couldn't help Buffy, no matter how much he wished he could, he just wasn't strong or good enough that he could help. Until he saw something that just might turn the tide. Edging around in the shadows was easier than he'd hoped, even with all the vamps fighting Angel, while Xander crept towards the sword that Buffy had dropped earlier. Just before he got to it, he and Angel both heard clearly through the surprisingly quiet clearing, "As much fun as this was Slayer, I think I've gotten bored if this is the best fight you have to offer."

Buffy snarled at the demon, knowing that while he was strong, she had been dodging most of his hits, so he wasn't faster than her. Moving in as fast as she could, she clenched her muscles for the strongest attack she had ever thrown at anything before, but just before she got to him, he disappeared.

Left blinking, wondering where he'd gone too, the little hairs on the back of Buffy's neck only had enough time to tell her the hit was coming before she was slammed forward like she'd been hit point blank by a cannon ball to the back of her head. Too late she realized that the Judge was a lot faster than he looked.

For about half a minute, Buffy just lay where she had landed, feeling the pain, and racking her mind for _any_ possible way to beat this thing. The Judge, and his vampires were laughing, she heard that, and it was just enough incentive to get back to her feet. Well, try to anyway.

Xander cheered inside when he saw Buffy start moving and began to brace herself against the ground and start to push herself to her feet. He had the sword, now he just had to get it into the Slayer's hands so she could kill this blue bastard and they could all go home.

Buffy, weakly, had managed to get herself to her knees when she realized that the demon's laughing had stopped, and she looked up at him, despite the pain of her neck and head protesting such a sudden action.

The Judge glared at the Slayer with anger and contempt. She was stronger than he'd first guessed to still be conscious, let alone _alive_ after a direct hit from him with his full strength behind it. Now he was annoyed, and the Slayer was going to die. Right now.

Snarling a little himself, the Judge quickly stalked forward, holding his right hand out before him, as though to grab the Slayer. She knew it would be a very bad thing if he succeeded, but her body wasn't moving as fast as she needed it to as she struggled, half falling back, to her feet, the fear of what the Judge would do if he got his hands on her giving her the strength to stand up fully.

She would never, ever forget what happened next, having nightmares for years where it played out over and over, never changing, never a detail muddied or lost in the passage of time. But it all happened so quickly.

One instant Angel had been fighting and surrounded by the last of the Judge's vampire warriors, and the next, as they both blinked Angel was suddenly between the Judge and Buffy. When the Judge's outstretched hand touched Angel's chest on its way to Buffy's head, there was a brief flash of dark orange light, and Angel's face contorted in excruciating pain.

The Judge snarled at the vampire, scowling deeply as his demonic power surged at the contact with a souled creature. He picked Angel up with his other hand around the vampire's throat until the souled vampire was dangling two feet off the ground. Glaring, the Judge turned to Buffy and told her ominously, "Watch Slayer as your pet vampire, uselessly, sacrifices himself to try and save you. No one defies me!"

With that, the Judge turned an almost gleefully evil smile up at Angel as he held up his first hand and then put it against the vampire's chest. That dark orange light, much brighter, filled the clearing once more and Angel didn't just squint in pain, but screamed as if he were slowly being burned alive. The screams became higher and louder as Buffy watched helplessly, paralyzed by fear, tears pouring down her face as the man she loved with all her heart was tortured before her, slowly dying.

Xander wet himself as he stared at the scene, using all of his will not to cry out or rush forward and not get himself killed.

The screams finally died out as the dark orange energy finally covered all of Angel's body and in a single second as it enclosed on him like an evil cocoon of energy, the vampire once known as Angelus Scourge of Europe, and then as Angel the Vampire with a Soul, dissolved into dust with a final demonic scream, echoing a second longer as the Soul joined in.

And then the clearing was quiet once more.

The Judge clapped his hands, clearing off the dust from Angel and turned, still with that same evil smile on his face, to Buffy, no doubt planning to do the same thing to her.

Xander knew he couldn't wait a second longer. Rushing out from his hiding place, he shouted just after throwing the sword, "BUFFY!"

Without even looking at Xander or the oncoming weapon, Buffy caught the blade from the air and moved faster than she ever had before, and faster than the Judge could move at his maximum power. "MONSTER!" she screamed in rage as she attacked with the sword.

The Judge was surprised at the sudden attack, and the strength and speed with which it was given. No Slayer, that he had encountered, had ever been so absolutely vicious before! That didn't mean he sat there stunned and took it of course.

She swung the sword at him with intent to kill, which he could respect, but the sword was obviously not her weapon of choice as it was clearly only a tool in her hand, not a part of her as some swordsmen that had tried their fate against the Judge. He mostly blocked her blade strikes with his armored gauntlets, sparks flying each time the metals hit with enough force. Some he was forced to dodge, not a tactic the Judge used very often.

Buffy couldn't see anything beyond the red. Except for a face, full of contempt, and blue. Against the red her target stood out like a beacon and all she cared about, all the Slayer focused on was destroying her target. At any costs.

The vampires, no longer with Angel to distract them, looked on at the fight between their master and his opponent, a grieving Slayer possessed with rage.

"Shit man, there's no way we can win this, invincible demon or not!" one of the vampire warriors cried out. The oldest left among them, having been with the Judge for centuries already, almost staked the uniformed warrior where he stood, but restrained himself, because blasphemy or not, it was the truth and he wasn't stupid enough to ignore it.

"Go, don't get in his way, and try to distract her, give him an opening, ANYTHING!" the leader among them screamed as he lead the way into the battle with the Slayer.

As soon as he was in range though, the Slayer's sword flashed out faster than even the vampire could follow, and a moment after that, his arm was at his feet, and crumbling to dust. He back up in terror even as the other four vampires rushed the blonde Slayer.

One got a kick to the chest and went flying over thirty feet back, and lay there for about a minute before getting back up to decide it was time to talk the Judge into retreating for now, otherwise there was a very good chance the Slayer would kill them all.

The last few vampires hung back after seeing what she had done to their brethren and decided just to keep the Slayer from running away by keeping a semi-ring around her and the Judge. The Judge was taking every opportunity he could in killing the Slayer. Many times he exerted his energy, which was supposed to burn the souled creatures of the world away into dust. She was either immune, which he knew was impossible, or she was moving too fast for the full effect to take, which he knew was very likely as she kept slipping by his attacks, and this time he wasn't pulling his punches.

Buffy knew her punches and kicks weren't having enough of an effect on the demon to end this fight, the same way it could with vampires by making them slip up and give her an opening, too blinded by the pain they felt to defend themselves. The Judge was just too damn tough. And his armor and those gauntlets of his were really annoying, keeping the sword from being most effective.

After about a minute of the pattern of trying to kill each other and either blocking or dodging just enough to keep it from happening, with occasional distractions by the vampires, which Buffy didn't let bother her for long, she finally found her opening. Spinning around, she kicked his thigh again, but this time with enough force that she knew he felt it, then rapidly spinning in the other direction she backhanded his arm so it flew out to the side. Now, for the briefest of seconds, he was left unguarded.

Bringing her arm back to grab the hilt with her other hand, she pulled the sword back to give it more running room, and then she thrust it forward into the demon's belly, between a soft spot in the armor that she had seen. The Judge's eyes went wide in shock, and instinctually reacted, punching the Slayer off of him with all of his power. A flash of orange light highlighted the punch on Buffy's body, and despite the immense pain such a blow caused her, she held on to the sword, and as she flew back, the blade retreated from the demon's body trailing dark blue and black blood with it.

The Judge cried out in pain and fell to his knees in agony. His vampire warriors just stared, stunned and frozen by shock to do much more than maintain their guard positions.

Buffy, only lightly sizzling around the edges, got back up and ran at the Judge one more time, this time raising the sword for a decapitating blow. The Judge saw this, his eyes widening in brief fear. Just as the blade was coming down, however, the Judge's right arm snapped up and caught the blade in its gloved fist. Instantly, the same dark orange energy that had consumed Angel, that had blasted Buffy away from him just seconds ago, it flared up around the Judge's fist and quickly traveled down the metal weapon until it reached the hilt where it met flesh. An instant later there was a blinding flash of light and a small explosion, resulting in Buffy being flown back almost 50 yards. Her entire body was smoking like a burnt fire cracker, and her hands were blackened with 3rd degree burns.

Xander, not too far from where Buffy had landed, was quickly by his friend's side and held her.

He noticed she was unconscious and then looked fearfully up at the demon and his vampires, knowing that if they did decide to attack and finish Buffy off, they would succeed. There was no way he could carry Buffy and outrun five vampires and a demon, even if the demon was injured. He could only hope at this point that they would decide to retreat and lick their wounds for now.

The Judge was entering what mortal humans typically referred to as shock. He had been severely injured. By a mortal! A Slayer yes, but no mortal had _ever_ before injured him in any way more than a bruise.

"Lord Judge," one of his vampire warriors called him. He looked up, the numb disbelief more than evident on his face. "We must retreat Lord Judge. The Slayer is too filled with rage at this time that we can possibly succeed. You've been injured, we must retreat so you can heal!"

The Judge balked at the idea of retreating, until the shock gave way to the pain, and he knew the truth. He grimly nodded, struggling not to show weakness from the pain and held out his hand to be helped to his feet. His remaining warriors offered it and helped him without hesitation. Quickly, the six of them retreated into the night, leaving only a ground filled with dust, and one young boy protecting his super hero friend.

About ten feet out from the rear Library entrance, Buffy had finally begun to break down emotionally and almost literally collapsed into Xander's arms. She had awoken about five minutes after the Judge and his warriors had fled, and only after Xander spent about a minute convincing her none of it was a dream, and seeing the pile of dust from Angel, she shut down, emotionally speaking. She had let Xander lead her back to the Library, walking stiffly, more from her injuries than her status, and not saying or doing anything other than walking. If Xander hadn't been leading her along, who knows where she might have ended up.

Then, just as they were almost home free, it began as a small, steady whimper. Then it became obvious to Xander that his friend was crying. Soon crying developed into all out sobbing, and only thanks to Xander holding her around the waist and shoulders to help her keep moving did she not fall to her knees in tears there on the School lawn.

Despite feeling acute sympathy for his friend, he knew they were still in danger and he couldn't let her grief get them killed. "C'mon Buff, we're almost there. We can make it. We have to get to Giles. He has to know what's happened Buff. C'mon, _please_!" he begged.

Amazingly, Xander managed to get Buffy to the door only to find that it was locked, and no amount of banging on his part, or the wails coming from the Slayer were having any effect on changing that. So, with a lot more cajoling, he got Buffy moving again and to his amazing luck, Xander found the front door unlocked and quickly started moving the Slayer through the halls and with a burst of energy, made a very dramatic entrance into the Library, throwing the doors wide open and maybe even denting some of the wood.

"Buffy how many times have I . . ." Giles started to say as he walked out of his office, only to stop at seeing Xander carrying a crying and wailing Buffy, who was also burned and still smoking a little.

"Oh dear lord!" Giles cried and rushed around to help Xander with his burden, much to the teenager's relief.

Willow and Cordelia, who had been up in the stacks reading up on Buffy's "uniform vamp" quickly rushed down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about. When they saw the Slayer and Xander though, all their concern shifted to their friends.

"BUFFY!" Willow screamed as she was instantly by the Slayer's side.

Instinctively, the blonde reached up and grabbed onto her best friend, just being held as she wallowed in her grief. Willow, at a loss at her friend's unexplained behavior, didn't catch Cordelia hovering around an injured Xander, who had gotten banged up from being thrown around during the fight.

"Xander," Giles asked after seeing that Buffy was in absolutely no condition to be answering any of his questions, "what the devil happened? You look like several vampires used you as a punching bag, and Buffy is badly burned . . . and where is Angel?" he finally asked.

At the mention of the souled vampire, Buffy's wailing and crying increased threefold and her grip around Willow also increased. It wasn't until the redhead, red-faced girl was starting to turn purple that she finally squeaked out, "Buffy! Need . . . Oxygen . . . Air!"

Finally the Slayer released her friend, but it wasn't until a few moments after this that Willow realized it was because the blonde had passed out, still crying even in her sleep. After seeing that Buffy was safely unconscious, and resting in one of the chairs, Willow joined the conversation with Xander.

"OK, now that Buffy's getting some rest, does somebody want to explain what happened tonight?" Willow demanded, although she was looking right at Xander.

Xander, who hadn't spoken a word since they came in, just kept looking at his shoes, tear tracks from tears that he hadn't even noticed staining his face. After Willow joined them, he took a deep sigh and looked up into each of their faces. "Angel's dead," he said without any emotion at all.

"Remember that vamp with a uniform Buffy and . . . that they met last night, which we were researching? Well, he had friends. Some demon in leather armor and with blue skin showed up tonight with about 30 others just like the one Buffy described. Only thanks to the crossbow, which let me stay long distance, did I not get beat up worse than this. Buffy and . . . Angel were in the thick of it. I'm not sure, but I think Buffy got about ten of them. Then . . . the demon got into the fight."

The tears were coming more rapidly now, as Xander sniffed and tried to keep his voice clear before moving on. "It went after Buffy first, but Angel got in its way. So, it picked him up by the throat, and then using its other hand . . . he burned Angel into dust. Just like that. Buffy lost it and attacked the demon. He tried to do the same thing to her, but she managed to injure it, enough that it and all its vampires retreated rather than finish us off. Oh gawd, Angel's ashes must still be out there."

Willow, always very empathic with all of her friends, was near tears herself, while Cordelia just looked incredibly uncomfortable. Giles, however, was frowning in concentration. Before any more hysterics could start, the Watcher demanded from the teenager, "Xander, this is very important, but can you recall if this blue-skinned demon ever gave its name?"

Xander scowled in anger, and almost snarled at the Watcher, "Yeah. It'll be a long time before I forget it too. It called itself 'The Judge'. And it called all the vampires 'it's warriors', very possessive like . . ." he stopped with a sigh. It was a sign of how tired and totally drained he was that he couldn't even joke himself out of a situation like this.

Giles, meanwhile, had paled and quickly, and quietly left while the girls tended to Buffy and Xander's wounds, mostly just some bruise-salve for Xander while some burn ointment to the unconscious Slayer.

In his office, Giles pulled a slim, black cover booklet from the back of the bottom drawer in his desk, just underneath where he kept Buffy's Watcher Chronicle. The _real_ one, not the edited version he sent to the Watcher's council. However, the very first number in the little black book, the one that he began to dial from his office phone, just happened to be the private, unlisted, and very secure emergency phone for _the_ Watcher's Council. And not the organization, but _the_ Council.

After about ten minutes, the minimum time that it took to convene the Council for an Emergency call from the Watcher of an active Slayer (conference call of course since having them all sitting in the Council Chambers would be preposterous at this time of day), the line finally picked up, and Giles heard the prim and proper voice, however filled with stress, of the Chief Watcher Liaison, Quentin Travers.

"Watcher Rupert Giles, I trust that this is not an _ordinary_ emergency, given that you are in the land of crank calls I am hoping you understand the dire use of this line . . ." Quentin began to say.

Giles interrupted him, his emotion and urgency easily being conveyed across the pan-Atlantic conference call, "The Slayer, Buffy Summers, has encountered the Judge."

There was silence on the line for about a minute and a half to almost three minutes. Giles surmised that he had been put on hold, but didn't bother commenting or getting frustrated, given, as Quentin had said, the direness of the circumstances.

Finally, Quentin's voice came back, "Watcher Giles, if what you say is true, I can most assuredly understand your excitement over this and how you might see this as a need to contact the Council with this number. However, just to inform us that Slayer Summers has defeated the . . ."

"She did not defeat or kill him sir," Giles interrupted once again. "I'm told she severely injured him, but only enough to make him and his minions retreat. Vampiric minions that wear a blue-tunic uniform. With a seven star inverted horse-shoe symbol etched over their hearts?"

Again, several minutes of silence, broken rather abruptly by Quentin once again, "Are you _sure_, Watcher Giles, that it was _the_ Judge, and not some other . . ."

"Blue skin, leather armor, and the ability to burn its victims with a touch of its hand," Giles interrupted again, "From what I can recall of information I have read only half an hour ago, I would have to say this description only matches _one_ of the many demons in all the books that I have, _and_ uses vampiric minions of the Omega Order."

This time, the silence, Giles knew, was not him being put on hold.

"Yes, well . . ." Quentin's voice trailed off until Giles heard the silence of hold come back.

After several more minutes of this, a new, strange, and unfamiliar voice broke the silence, "You will be contacted within 12 hours with more information as we have it available. Until then, do not reveal to your Slayer the true nature of the Judge or the existence of the Omega Order." Then there was a final, and unmistakable click, indicating Giles had been hung up on.

With a sigh of trepidation, and trembling fingers, he hung up the phone on his end, and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face. He knew this was only the beginning. He only wished he knew where this could end up.

"OK Xander," Willow snapped the moment Giles was in his office, "What really happened?"

"That is what really happened Will," Xander answered dully.

"Yeah, that explains Buffy's reaction," Willow squeaked, almost going into tears as she thought of her best friend's pain, but she soldiered on, "but not yours. You're almost as broken up as she is, and I _know_ you Xander Harris, I can tell, so don't even try to deny it."

"Yeah, Willow's right," Cordelia scathingly remarked, "You _hate_ Angel, or maybe I should say hat_ed_? Anyway, much as I disliked him because of that sneaking up on people thing he did, you never trusted the guy and every time he was in the room it was worse between you two than it's ever been between us."

Willow nodded and added, "She's got a point Xander. If you and Angel were ever in a room together, there always had to be a referee. And I refuse to believe because Buffy . . . because Buffy got hurt that you're this sad. I would expect angry, but not . . . this."

Xander just continued to sit there, ignoring the silence left as his two friends finally stopped speaking, waiting for his reply. A reply that wasn't coming because in his mind he just kept seeing it over and over again. Angel running to attack the Judge. Intercepting the demon before he could get to Buffy. The Judge, all high-and-mighty, casually lifting the vampire up and then with ease just burning him away to ash. Something Xander had wanted to see ever since he learned the truth about Angel, but not like this. Not like this.

"He died trying to save her. Trying to save Buffy. He probably did it too, saved her life, while I was stuck on the sidelines, getting beat up and trying not to get killed myself. He sacrificed himself for her." It wasn't until he felt both girls embrace him in a hug that he realized he had said all of that out loud. Didn't matter anymore though, he thought as the tears started to come, and didn't stop, no matter what he tried to do.

Buffy was healed, in the physical sense of the word, before the next afternoon, and Xander, while bandaged up, would be on his feet in practically no time himself. But they were all feeling the loss. Buffy, staying at home and crying her soul out, the excuse given to her mother was that a friend of hers that she knew around town had just died. Neither the whole truth or a lie, and it was one that Joyce could accept and gave her enough information to help her daughter get through this.

Xander took the others back to the spot, and with Cordelia and Willow's help, collected Angel's remains. What was left of them at any rate.

While they were doing that, Giles puttered around the area, working with Jenny over a crystal on a string. When it turned a dark, ugly blue color, Giles went pale and quickly moved everyone on from the location.

That night, when Buffy finally emerged from her home and grief, they had a small funeral with Angel's ashes, burying the remains next to a marble statue of an angel. Xander thought it ironically poetic, and Buffy agreed. The service, if it could be called that, was small and short. Each just sharing with one another their grief at a lost comrade in the never ending battle.

A week later, Buffy's birthday came around. None of them felt much like celebrating, but Giles had rented out the Bronze for the night several months in advance, using funds provided by a certain bicentennial immortal that had a vested interest in Buffy's birthday. Seeing it rather not go to waste, the whole gang went anyway, with cake and the provided DJ paid off to show Willow how to use the sound system so they could have music, and with no more surprises after the small fiasco with the Judge.

Joyce Summers, needing to work the night of the party, promised her daughter a private, family party after it was all done. Buffy, still grieving over the loss of the man she loved with all her heart, crush or not, just mutely accepted the situation and hugged and kissed her mother goodbye before heading for the party with her friends.

None of them were in the mood for partying, but they did eat, and Xander played one country song in Angel's honor before Buffy herself tore out that CD and put in Linkin Park, if not a better mood then definitely better tunes.

Even Cordelia was much subdued and stuck to insulting and throwing jibes back and forth with Xander, hoping to keep from making a slip of mouth and reminding Buffy about the loss of Angel and thereby bringing the mood of the whole group back down to ground zero. It was a little easier than she feared, as she somehow felt that she too had been robbed of something in her time with Angel. She just kept to insulting Xander and eating cake.

Halfway through the night, a couple hours before midnight when they planned to call it quits and go home, the front door to the Bronze opened, startling everyone there. As a side effect of Willow jumping out of her skin, metaphorically speaking, the music suddenly quit and then there was only the sound of the stranger's feet walking to the dance floor, where everyone watched him approach.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," he said with a light alto voice, "but is there a Buffy Summers and a Rupert Giles here by chance?"

Everyone suddenly looked at him very suspiciously, several remembering back in November when several assassins, hired by Spike, had gone after Buffy. Looking him up and down, they all assessed his threat level.

He was about five and a half feet tall, give or take an inch and a growth spurt or two. And he was young, younger than most of those in the room. At the very most he looked sixteen, but could easily pass for a mature looking 13 year old. He had long, wavy brown hair, his from bangs hanging down in a single lock over his right eye, while the rest of his locks hung in wind-blown fashion around the rest of his head.

Just because he looked young however, did not mean he was harmless or weak. Even Cordelia, admittedly the most dense when it came to judging a threat, could see the toned muscles on this boy, and in what ways those muscles could be turned around from looking great to being a terrible weapon.

He wore a simple white dress shirt, black pants and worn walking boots and a loose dark leather jacket that hung to just past his waist. He also carried a small, simple, plain duffel bag over his left shoulder, but as far as the experts, Buffy and Giles, could tell, he was not carrying any weapons. Not even a small dagger.

Of the eye everyone could clearly see, the young man had crystal clear blue eyes that for the moment seemed to exude a warm aura of trust, for those not instantly distrusting that is.

Giles finally stepped forward, removing his glasses to clean them, Ms. Calendar and Buffy coming up at his rear to support him, as he answered the young man, "Yes, I am Rupert Giles. May I help you?"

In reply, the boy just calmly stared back and looked carefully over each person in the room, much the same way they had just looked him over, but they could somehow sense that it was more than that as well. In what way, the couldn't tell though.

Finally, his eyes rested on the blonde in the back of the room, and all attention seemed to naturally focus from him to her with just that look. "You must be Buffy Summers then," he said logically.

"May we help you?" Giles repeated, putting a little bit more emphasis in the question.

Now the young man turned his attention to Giles and a hint of a smile reached his face. "Again, forgive the intrusion, and my rather abrupt manner. I sincerely apologize for my rude behavior, but given the circumstances, I felt I did not have much recourse. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jason Eversheart. And Mr. Giles, I was sent by the Watcher's Council. To help _you_."

Everyone just stared at him, stunned.

END Episode One

Preview: The warrior that the Watcher's Council sent isn't even as old as the Slayer herself and yet despite all doubts, he is what he is, and he can and will teach the Slayer, and her friends, what it is he was sent to teach them. But can they learn the secrets of the Chi-Armor in time before the Judge returns for his revenge?

Next Episode "Swifter Justice"


	2. Swifter Justice

**Vanguard Slayer**

Author: Joshua

Summary: The warrior that the Watcher's Council sent isn't even as old as the Slayer herself and yet despite all doubts, he is what he is, and he can and will teach the Slayer, and her friends, what it is he was sent to teach them. But can they learn the secrets of the Chi-Armor in time before the Judge returns for his revenge?

Spoilers: Up to "Bad Eggs" and beyond, but before "Surprise", which turns out very differently.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created and owns the Buffyverse, which is company owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions. "Chi-Armor" is, as far as I care, a semi-original concept, derived from multiple factual and fictional references, but the term and use itself is original to this story.

AN: Chi-Armor is NOT pronounced how it looks to the American, British, or even Japanese eyes, no offense. It is pronounced with the Greek approximation. Χ, or "ck-I" is the way to pronounce it when you see the word put as Chi-Armor. If seen as chi or ki, _then_ it is pronounced how it is spelled.

"*NEVER* mess with someone who can alter the basic forces of the Universe,

and avoid messing with people who can rip off your arms and beat you to

death with them."

"Especially if they happen to be teenage girls."

-- Troy Guffey

Story: "Swifter Justice"

Last time on Vanguard Slayer:

The young man turned his attention to Giles and a hint of a smile reached his face. "Again, forgive the intrusion, and my rather abrupt manner. I sincerely apologize for my rude behavior, but given the circumstances, I felt I did not have much recourse. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jason Everheart. And Mr. Giles, I was sent by the Watcher's Council. To help _you_."

Everyone just stared at him, stunned.

And now:

After a few minutes silence, with Jason waiting patiently for their response, Giles finally broke the silence by stuttering, shakily putting his glasses back on, "T-the Wat-watch . . . you were sent . . . here . . . by the Watcher's Council?"

Jason slowly nodded his head, and then backed it up with, "Yes. I am here to train you in order to help you to defeat and destroy the Judge, if indeed we're talking about _the_ Judge, a minor boss in the Omega Order."

"Uh-um, uhm, yes, well, I believe that we are," Giles stuttered again.

Xander raised his hand, but rather than point him out, Jason just looked over at him. Taking that as permission, Xander asked, "The Judge I recognize, since that's the pasty blue-faced bastard that has made my past week a living nightmare, but I'm not recognizing this _Omega Order_. Sounds ominous, should I be running in terror or just go ahead and shit my pants right here?"

Jason cracked a grin and then began to laugh, startling a lot of the people there, who from his solemn expression thought he _couldn't_ laugh, especially at one of Xander's jokes.

"Well, that all depends," Jason answered the other youth, "If you faced the Judge and you're still alive, then running in terror won't do any good, seeing as the Omega Order is one of the premier forms of organized evil across the entire world, so there really is nowhere to run. However, I believe I did call the Judge a _minor_ boss in the Order, so I would hold out on shitting your pants until you meet someone a little higher up."

"Oh, good to know," Xander acknowledged and the heavily sat down, the closest he would ever come to fainting dead away without being knocked unconscious.

"I'm sorry, but it's just," Giles rejoined the conversation, "I never expected, I mean, I certainly didn't expect the Watchers to . . . well, I'm afraid this is all rather unorthodox . . ."

Jenny put a hand on Giles' shoulder, which had the instant effect of quieting him. "Chill out England. Now, why don't we all calm down and Mr. . . ."

"Everheart," Jason answered the prompting, "but please, just call me Jason. I'm not old enough to be Mr. anything."

"Yeah, speaking of which, how old are you anyway?" Cordelia bluntly demanded.

Jason stared at her for half a second, and then cocked a grin at her, which had the immediate side effect of making the May Queen blush deeply, and then answered her, "I'm sixteen, as of last July for your information. And again, I apologize for being so abrupt, but could I possibly get some introductions here?"

"Oh, yes, how terribly inconsiderate of me," Giles stepped forward, "Allow me to introduce, as you already guessed, Buffy Summers, the Slayer, her best friend Willow Rosenberg, and their mutual best friend Xander Harris, and another friend of theirs from school, Cordelia Chase. And this is Jenny Calendar, um, their Computer Teacher."

"And a decent witch, or maybe you prefer the term Technopagan?" Jason asked, "Seeing as you're also a computer teacher. And before you ask, I can read auras, and yours just screams witch."

Jenny flinched slightly after Jason spoke, but otherwise didn't really react beyond just staring at him, which everyone was doing in equal amounts.

"Giles?" Buffy finally spoke. Everyone turned at her voice, but she was looking only at her Watcher. "Can I speak with you for a minute? _Alone_?" Her tone broke no argument.

"Uhm, yes, of course Buffy," Giles stuttered as he began to get very nervous. "If everyone will excuse us . . ." he trailed off as Buffy pulled him out the back and then into the alley, where for once no vampires were hanging out.

Once they were out in the alley, Buffy roughly grabbed Giles by the arm and slammed him into the wall. He cried out, but more from surprise than pain.

"Buffy! Ow! What is the matter with you?" he yelled.

"Me? What the hell is the matter with you? You called the Watcher's Council and you, you told them . . . about Angel?" the look she gave him then almost broke the Englishman's heart.

"I did no such thing Buffy," he promised her, while picking himself up from off the wall. "There is a certain procedure that must be followed when an active Slayer comes across a certain level of threat. Specific, known demons, an unusual circumstance, and even a strange development with her powers perhaps. The last time I called the Council was the night after . . . the night after you died and then successfully defeated the Master. That was an unusual circumstance."

"So I'm guessing this Judge falls into specific known demons?" Buffy asked, sniffling a little as she wiped the tears that had fallen after what she had viewed as Giles' betrayal. "But did you . . . ?"

"No, Angel was never mentioned once. I merely told the Council that you had encountered the demon, and that I was very sure this was _the_ Judge that is considered one of the most lethal and dangerous demons in the entire world. Buffy, I would never do that to you, please believe me."

"I do Giles, I do, and I'm sorry for doubting you," Buffy wiped away the last of her tears and then set her face in stone. "I do want to know who this guy is though."

"I'm not too sure actually," Giles reluctantly admitted, scratching the back of his head. "About a day after I called the Council the night that . . . that you encountered the Judge, they called back and told me that a deal had been struck, in what way or with who they wouldn't tell me, but they did tell me that they were sending someone that could help you to beat the Judge. Personally I thought it would be one of the Council's Black Op teams, but apparently the case is this young boy."

"Yeah, boy, like I'm a girl, he's probably some mystic warrior the Council paid to lend me a hand until I finally kill the Judge," Buffy surmised.

"However, I am confused about that matter of training he mentioned," Giles suddenly mused.

Buffy looked up and glared at her Watcher. He noticed and returned with a look that clearly said 'what?'

"Giles, I am _not_ getting even _more_ training on top of everything else I suddenly have to deal with. And he's _16_! He's younger than me by like six months, and other mystical warrior or not, I am not letting him tell me what to do in my town!"

"Buffy, please, think about this," Giles pleaded, "The Watcher's Council would not just make some kind of deal to send this boy to us for nothing. And if you knew what I've read about the Judge . . . Buffy, please, just give him a chance to prove himself before you try to kick him off the Hellmouth, so to speak."

Buffy glared again, but actually did think about it. Finally she just sighed and nodded.

"For you Giles, and only because of you. Now lets get back in there and celebrate my birthday, and get to know this creep," Buffy mumbled to herself.

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose and just sighed as he followed his Slayer back inside.

"It's OK guys," Buffy said as she and Giles walked back in, "Giles confirmed his story, he's legit, at the very least."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jason muttered sarcastically.

"It's the Hellmouth, and it wouldn't be the first time someone wearing a trusting face tried to kill all of us," Buffy retorted. Jason nodded, acknowledging the point and his apology.

"Right, OK, I can understand that," he said understandingly. "I just need to make one thing clear though."

Everyone raised a suspicious eyebrow at that, but paid attention anyway.

"If I'm going to train all of you in what I've been sent here to do, you're going to need to trust me. And if I recall, it's you and the Watchers who said that time was of the essence, so you're just going to have to get past the trust issues."

Xander bristled slightly at the boy's implications and stood back to his feet and snapped, "Hey, Buffy put the serious hurt on the Judge, injuring him so bad that it's been practically dead quiet around here, if you'll pardon the pun."

"And how long do you think it'll take a demon of the Judge's power to heal from whatever kind of injury is inflicted on him? I'm betting not nearly as long as it'll take all of you to learn the technique I'm here to teach you." Jason retorted.

"Wait just a minute here," Buffy interrupted, "What's all this 'all of you' stuff I'm hearing. I'm the only one you're going to be teaching!"

Jason stared at her, and then glanced around the other people in the room again.

"Originally, that was the deal. And then I saw that nearly everyone here has the same potential, some even more than you Slayer, to learn and even excel at what I have to teach," he answered.

"What is it exactly you're here to teach us anyway?" Willow asked.

Jason smiled, "I'm glad someone finally asked that. And despite what you hear and see on TV, it's actually easier to tell you rather than show you."

"You're gonna teach us how to do that stopping bullets thing Neo did on the Matrix?" Xander asked.

Jason stared and rolled his eyes. "No. The technique is called Chi-Armor. And it's . . ."

"Ck-eye armor?" Xander repeated, speaking the syllables slowly, rolling them off his tongue.

Again, Jason rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Yes, Chi-Armor. It's the ability to develop one's . . . aura, or some call it their life force. Others just use the simplified term of their soul. But basically, it all boils down to developing their free-flowing body energy into a solidified form of energy and then manifest it as a crest of armor."

They all just stared at him as he stopped speaking. Even Giles had never heard of such a technique, or even such a phenomenon existing before now. That is if this Jason Everheart was telling the truth.

"Maybe I need to explain it better," Jason started to say.

"No!" Buffy hastened to stop such an explanation, not needing the headache wrapping her mind around such new age concepts, or even old age like stuff in Giles' books, would undoubtedly give her. "That's all right," she further placated him, "Look, we're having a party here, and . . . since we need to work on trust issues, like you said, you might as well join us so we can get to know you better."

Jason, and everyone else, just stared at her for several moments, before one by one everyone else turned and looked at the stranger, telling him they had accepted Buffy's assessment of the situation, and awaited his decision. Even Xander, normally the most paranoid of the group, was silently waiting to see whether he would willingly join them or not.

"OK," he said at length, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Buffy said as they all sat down, joined by the newcomer.

A couple days after Buffy's birthday, giving her time to enjoy a private, family party before beginning their training, Jason gathered all of Buffy's friends, and even Ms Calendar to the Library to further discuss what he was here to teach them, and to finally give them a demonstration, albeit a small one.

"OK, we're all here," Buffy said to Jason as he walked into the Library, while gesturing around the room at everyone of the group lounging about, "And you're the one that kept saying all of us, so why don't you stop with the secrets and show us what you can do already."

Everybody had gotten used to the way Buffy and Jason reacted to one another, as from the moment they met it seemed they had been testing each other, Jason testing Buffy's patience, and Buffy testing Jason's temper. So far, as anyone could tell, neither one was cracking just yet.

Jason just smiled almost serenely at Buffy while he nodded and replied, "Actually Buffy, that's exactly what I had in mind. After all, the key to completing your goal is the motivation that keeps you going. And if you know exactly what this ability can help you to do, I'm sure all of you will try that much harder to attain it."

"Yeah, well, I still can't believe that you want _us_ to do this training thing too," Cordelia interrupted. "I mean, _she's_ the Slayer, she's the one that fights the demons and blah, blah, blah, and has to go out at night and gets her clothes all dirty stalking the graveyards."

"So then," surprisingly it was Jason who spoke, "what are you still doing here Cordelia? Just because I'm offering it to all of you, and am asking you to, does not mean I'm going to force you to do this. This is your choice, I'm just giving it to you. So if you really don't want to be here Cordelia," he stopped and turned and pointed at the double-door entrance to the Library, "there's the door."

After this, everyone just stared at Cordelia, who was wide-eyed, like a deer caught in headlights. Finally, she seemed to snap out of it and she sunk a little in on herself as she whispered with a far less haughty attitude, "I've got nothing better to do anyway."

With a small smile, Jason just nodded at her and continued, "Well, all right then. But first . . ."

He trailed off as he got to the center of the room, and seemed to freeze suddenly. Several of the group got nervous real fast, but Buffy herself couldn't sense anything evil, besides the Hellmouth, nearby so she just stared, confused, at the young warrior. Then she _did_ feel something.

It was like a compression of the air, making everything real thick and for a couple of seconds really hard to breath. That's when they first noticed it. It looked like the air had gone completely solid around Jason's entire body. At first it seemed like an optical illusion of some kind, and then it didn't go away. In fact, it seemed to be getting thicker, and more defined. After another couple of moments, Buffy realized that it was taking the shape of armor of some kind.

Finally, after an incalculable amount of time, the heavy air feeling left them, but the semi-solid air around Jason remained where it was, and stranger still was that it being over his body didn't distort how he looked in the slightest. Buffy was shocked that it could be so easy. No effort of any kind, just a bit of concentration and he had what looked like armor made out of _solid_ air, which in itself was a paradox.

"This," he finally spoke after his lengthy pause, "is Chi-Armor. 1% power."

That floored Buffy. Both figuratively and literally as she slid off the table and only just managed to catch herself before falling to the ground. "If _that_ is 1%, what's 100% like?" she demanded to know.

"Why? Did you feel something?" Jason asked, sounding genuinely curious, but Buffy chose not to see it that way.

"Yeah, we all did," Xander shivered, Willow and Cordelia also nodded.

"Are you going to answer my question, or not?" Buffy snapped at Jason.

"Are you going to sit on the floor all day?" he retorted, smirking down at her.

Getting fully to her feet, her face contorted in a mask of controlled rage, she stalked the short distance between her and the young warrior and with only that as warning, she reeled back her fist and threw her fist at Jason's head. Her fist, without a sound, was stopped about two inches from Jason's head, where the optical distortion around Jason's body began.

Buffy's face suddenly grimaced in pain as she took her hand back and cradled it for several moments. Her expression transfigured into one of anger, but before she could attack again, Jason held up his hand to interrupt her.

Jason just grinned at her and said, "Solidified energy. For those capable of generating it, they can usually sense it as well. Most people, at this level of power, just shrug the symptoms off as being some kind of air pressure change or changing weather or something like that. That's why you guys can do this," he turned to the rest of them, "This is your way to having your own powers, your own weapons against the demons. Instead of just one Slayer, you'd be a team of Slayers."

The others perked up at that, especially Giles, who was more worried about that statement than excited.

"Cool as that may sound, 1% doesn't sound that impressive," Buffy retorted, "So how much punishment exactly would I have to dole out to get past this and get to you?"

"We'll get to that in a minute, I assure you Buffy, but for right now, I've got some more explaining to do. So could you please sit down?" he asked, sounding as calm and in control as ever, and that just irked Buffy that much more. But she did, sullenly, turn around and go and sit back down at the table. Unnoticed, everyone except the two combatants, released a soft sigh of relief.

"Now, what you are no doubt detecting, possibly even seeing is what I mentioned before, solidified energy. Pretty much the basic component to even using Chi-Armor. Through meditation, physical perfection, and unity of mind, soul, and body, solidified energy can be attained, but only through force of will and the need of the body can Chi-Armor be claimed. The first step, solidified energy, is impossible for most people in this world. What you are trying to do is so impossible that it would be easier to push the sun with your own hands through the eye of a wooden needle. But by the time you're done, that'll be easy."

Xander raised his hand and spoke before being called on, "I thought you said we needed motivation for this? Now I don't know about the rest of us, but this ain't doin' much for motivating me."

Jason rolled his eyes, but still continued, "Don't worry Xander, that's most of the world, not you guys. You guys are a cut above the rest. I _know_ you can do this. Now. The first step in the process is meditation. Physical perfection we can work on later this afternoon, and I would imagine Buffy is a little more familiar with the exercises we'll be doing there than the rest of you. But for meditation, that's the easy part."

Seeming like he was relaxing some unseen muscle, they watched as the 1% Chi-Armor around Jason disappeared and he walked over to the cage and started getting out the training mats that Giles and Buffy usually spread around the floor during her training in the library.

"Everybody pick a spot. Don't worry, we'll start with the boring easy stuff. Learning how to breathe," Jason remarked in a teasing tone as all the teenagers groaned, but they did get up and picked a spot on the floor on one of the mats and sat down cross-legged.

"Uh, and what about us Mr. Everheart?" Giles asked, indicating him and Jenny.

After a slight wince, Jason answered, "You two can go home. If you ever had the potential for this, neither of you have it now and you'd probably only get in our way. And please, don't ever call me Mr. Everheart. Makes me think my father's somewhere nearby. My name is Jason, and I would greatly appreciate it if you referred to me as such."

"Oh, uh, yes, of course . . . Jason." Giles replied.

Jason smiled and then went back to the center of the room, all eyes trained on him. He stood there for a couple more seconds, and then turned to look at the two adults with an expectant look on his face. Finally they figured it out, and trying to hide their discomfort and leave without further embarrassment, Giles and Jenny both quietly went towards the doors and then through them. Leaving the teenagers with the strange young warrior.

After a few more days, the group had figured out what this training required of them pretty quick, and Jason was right. The first part was boring.

Each day, whether school day or weekend, they spent a portion of the morning meditating under Jason's guidance. Most often it was at the Library, but sometimes, like on the weekends, they all went over to Buffy's or Willow's houses, where the parents weren't around very often and they were the only ones there. Sometimes they would spend at least a whole hour meditating, sometimes barely even five minutes before Jason called a stop to it, saying they had done enough for that day.

Then, usually in the late afternoon, sometimes sooner, they would meet in the library or on the school football field or even in the local forest once, to work on their 'physical perfection' aspect of training. More often than not, this included running at least 15, sometimes 25 laps, and then a number of calisthenics and endurance training exercises. Buffy was the only one to call this part boring, and that usually got her an extra fifty laps than everyone else. Not for punishment, but because Jason said he didn't want her to get bored.

And he wasn't the typical Watcher-type trainer, giving them exercises and then watching them do it. For every step of the training, from the meditating in the morning to the last workout just before night, he was right there with them, breathing every breath in time with theirs, running every step side-by-side, and pushing every limit they were. Especially with Buffy, and he was the only one who could actually keep up with the Slayer, which was surprising enough, but he also sweat less than she did after the physical training was over.

A week and a half after Jason had arrived, Buffy and the others were slowly trudging into the Library to cool off after their latest grueling training session. Buffy, being the only one who could move easily, took the few extra steps to grab the cooler where they had put several bottled waters for afterwards, which it now was.

Cordelia plopped down in the chair closest to the door, while Xander settled for the stairs, which he actually tripped over, just to the left of the table. Willow had just enough energy to crawl into the closest chair on the opposite side of the table from Cordelia, which unfortunately was about five feet further back than the one the High School debutant had found.

Buffy chose the table itself to sit on, and once there passed out the liquid refreshments and took one for herself, taking a long drag before doing anything else.

"So, do you guys still want to keep doing this?" Buffy asked. She had asked the same question after each and every session, and each time she had only gotten tired grunts. But they all, even Cordelia, showed up the next morning for meditating, and in the afternoon for a workout that made even her training with Giles seem light by comparison.

Today was different.

"You know Buff, I'm getting real tired of hearing you ask us that," Xander snapped from his corner on the stairs.

Buffy blinked in surprise and turned to face her friend, a look of confusion clear on her face.

"Yeah Buffy," Willow chimed in, "the way you keep asking it's like you expect us to up and quit. But even after all that we've already been through, you keep asking like the answer is going to be different. It's not."

"Much as I hate to agree with two out of three losers, stop trying to hog all the glory. Like Jase said the first day, we've got the potential to have our own powers, be our _own_ Slayers, instead of relying solely on you for protecting us. So stop trying to keep the superhero thing to yourself because it's like a virtue or something to share," Cordelia added her two cents.

Buffy was stunned, her mouth moving but not working for several seconds, and then finally she regained control and exclaimed, "Guys! That . . . that's not what I meant, I mean . . ."

"That you think we're too weak to protect ourselves?" Xander finished for her with a derisive tone. She looked hurt at the tone, but Xander didn't even flinch at her wounded puppy dog stare.

"Just go ahead and admit it Buffy," Xander stood up suddenly, his anger giving him the energy to do so, "You think you're better than us. You think that we have no chance of doing what you do. Being the Slayer has made you an arrogant bitch!"

A spark of anger entered Buffy's eyes, but before she could respond to Xander's accusations, Willow interrupted with her own thing to say.

"He's right Buffy. We have a chance here, a chance to join the fight on equal footing with you, but every single day you've done nothing but try to drag us down and get us to quit. Why?" the redhead demanded to know.

The way the room got suddenly quiet told Buffy she had better answer.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt," Buffy quietly told them. Tears, _real_ tears, not part of the puppy dog act, began to spill down her cheeks.

"Guys, all of you, you have no idea what I go through, and I don't want you going through it. The nightmares alone I wouldn't wish on anyone. But the secrets and the going out late at night, not getting enough sleep, training, and then the constant fear that some demon is going to attack me at any minute, or that some vamp, like Darla or . . . A-A-Angel gets invited into my home and kills my family while I'm at school! You only know the half of it, since the most you do is keep my hours and go to school with me. And now this! I _don't want you to have my life, because __**my life is HELL!**_"

Buffy managed to remain composed for all of three seconds after that, and then the tears took over and all she could do was run out and keep running until she couldn't run anymore.

The others, left behind, just stared after her. Cordelia opened her mouth, a retort about emotional Slayers on the tip of her tongue, until her brain leaped ahead to reign in her tactless mouth. This was not a time where being top bitch would help her in the least.

"Shouldn't one of us go after her?" Willow asked, sounding worried.

"No," Xander answered bluntly. "She should know that it's our _choice_. She can't make it for us, no matter how much she wants to protect us and make our lives simpler than hers. It's _our_ choice, not hers."

With a sigh, the two girls agreed with him and then resumed resting.

When Buffy finally stopped she was surprised to find herself back out in the woods, not too far from where they had trained that afternoon. Leaning against a tree, she just let herself slide down to the forest floor and proceeded with crying alone in her misery.

Would have been perfect, except that she wasn't alone.

"Is something wrong Buffy?" Jason's voice called out from just behind her.

Buffy gasped and tried desperately to wipe away the evidence of her tears, but it wasn't working as more tears just kept spilling out. She jumped to her feet and struggled to keep Jason from seeing her face.

"I thought you'd already gone home," Buffy said, struggling to control the tremble in her voice.

"And I'd thought you had already gone inside," he countered. He seemed to stare at her for some time, she couldn't tell for sure because she had her back to him, before he finally let out a deep sigh and told her, "So, I see they've finally confronted you about it."

That stopped her cold.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, but keeping her face away from him.

"The way you've been dragging them down in training, showing just how much better you are, taunting Xander and Cordelia when they showed how exhausted they were, and according to Willow, who I spoke with the other day, always asking at the end of every training day why they don't quit already. It's been a problem that I noticed on that first day. I never said anything to you about it before because it's a matter best left between you and them. So instead, I did the same thing to you that you were doing to them. But instead of getting beat down by it . . ." he trailed off.

"I was challenged by it, and tried harder," she finished for him after a lengthy pause.

"I suggested to Willow, when I spoke with her, that she apply the same philosophy. She obviously told Xander and Cordelia, because today was the best training that they've had, for all three of them."

Buffy finally turned around, showing her face, and the evidence of her crying to Jason. She also saw that he was still putting away the weights they had worked with earlier.

"Need any help with that?" she offered.

He stared at her for a couple of seconds, and then shrugged and nodded, "Sure."

Together the two of them got the weights and other exercise equipment put away and started carrying the boxes back to the school. As they walked, Buffy asked, "So why didn't you talk to me about how they were . . . are feeling?"

"Like I said," Jason answered, blowing the hair out of his face, briefly revealing both of his bright blue eyes for a moment, "it's a matter between the four of you. If I get involved in any way other than advisory, that's the wrong thing to do and the conflict will never get resolved. But I'm glad to see that you aren't as stuck up as Xander and Cordelia made you out to be."

Buffy almost snapped at that, until she remembered what Xander had said right to her face.

Deflated some, she asked in return, "So what advice do you have for me sensei?"

Jason laughed, sparking a smile on Buffy's lips, and replied, "Well, teacher I may be, but I'm hardly old enough to be _anyone's_ sensei, let alone yours Buffy. My advice for you is to stop trying to drag everyone down. That's counterproductive in any relationship, whether friendship, family, or comrades in arms like we all are. My second piece of advice, take a step back from your reasons for why you don't want them to be trained, and try and see it from their point of view."

"How could I possibly do that? I'm not a mind-reader, and frankly I never liked the whole Freaky Friday concept," Buffy interrupted.

"Well," Jason shifted one of the boxes to get a better grip, "Willow's your best friend. I saw that the moment I met the two of you. She's your _real_ friend, no matter what you do. And by default, I believe that she would do anything for you. Xander looks up to you. Might be a bit of a crush there, but I could be reading a little too much into these things."

Jason couldn't help but notice Buffy's blush when he told her that. "But at the same time, he has a healthy dose of realism. So as much as he worships you Buffy, when he thinks you're wrong, he'll dig in and not only confront you about it, he'll get very stubborn and probably say some things to you that he wouldn't mean in any other circumstances."

"And any clue as to getting into Cordy's shoes?" Buffy asked.

"Other than having a credit card with unlimited credit and going to every Super Mall in the country?" They both laughed at that, and after a little bit of that, he continued, "Seriously though? Cordelia needs friends. _Real_ friends, like what you have with Willow. She has a slightly warped version of that with Xander, near as I can tell. But she needs it. Like fish need water, like a plant needs sunshine, Cordelia needs friends. So no matter how overprotective you get, or however bitchy she gets, she'll stick with all of you because right now, she sees in all of you something she has very rarely ever seen with the crowd she usually hangs around. But she's still 'Queen C' I believe is the nickname Willow called her."

"Yeah," Buffy laughed.

By now they had reached the school, and Buffy was suddenly reminded of why she had run off crying in the first place. She almost started crying again from the memory alone, but then her talk with Jason registered in her mind, and she started trying to see the situation from all of her friends' point of views. It made a big difference in her thinking.

The Judge was never afraid. But he did sometimes get nervous, like he was right now as he stood before the newly installed tele-screen communication device. Other than get rid of the last of Nest's hoard and all of the rest of Spike's incompetent lackies, the Judge had also ordered many other renovations to the old abandoned factory, which had become his base of operations just as much as it was Spike's.

For the moment, the Judge was resting, his armor temporarily removed and showing off his well-defined, but scarred blue torso. His lower torso and abdomen where wrapped in white gauze and bandages, which harshly contrasted with the rest of his skin. The wound the Slayer had inflicted upon him had been deeper than he'd thought it was, so it was taking much longer to heal than he had planned. Nevertheless, his strength grew daily and soon he would be more than strong enough to go out and deal with whatever was left of the Slayer.

But for now, he had to answer to his superiors. And that refers to more than just rank.

Almost before he was ready, the screen flickered to life, showing a red-glowing black upside down horseshoe symbol, with two curved concentric lines around it and glowing red orb on a black background. The Symbol for the Omega Order.

After thirty seconds of that, the screen flickered again, this time revealing a dark room where the only light reflected onto an ebony table, also bearing the Omega symbol merged with the Eye of Ra with two Ankhs placed on either side of the merged symbol.

The voices from those among the table though, were neither hidden nor distorted in any way.

"Making a new home base on the Hellmouth, are we Judge?" one of the number at the table said in a mocking voice. It was completely impossible to know which of the figures in the shadows had spoken, but the Judge knew exactly who each and every one of them were. He did, after all, share a seat on that table with them, despite they all being more than powerful enough to destroy him with only a thought.

"Only temporarily," the Judge promised his colleagues. "There's a rather annoying little Slayer here that I want to take care of. And it certainly doesn't hurt having a base of operations and many operatives in place over the Hellmouth, in case we'll need it some day in the future."

"The future is the future, and we have no interest in the Hellmouth or having many, let alone any operatives stationed there," another of the creatures there snapped. "However, seeing as there are currently no other projects that need your immediate withdrawal and attention, we'll let you have your fun. But don't get carried away Judge. We have, however tedious, an alliance with the Mayor of that burg you're staying in right now. For the moment, this alliance benefits us and we want it to last as long as possible. Until we change our minds that is."

"I understand. My only target is the Slayer. As soon as . . . as soon as she's taken care of, and all her friends and family dead, I shall return," the Judge promised.

Another of the ones at the table chortled and commented, "You're looking a little weakish there my friend. Did the big bad Slayer give you a boo boo?" The entire table erupted in evil, mocking laughter.

The Judge, unable to blush, just glowered at the screen, clenching an unseen fist. "She got a lucky shot. I'll be healed within another few days, and I will make her scream for mercy even while I kill her."

"Fine, but remember that if we need you elsewhere, whether the Slayer is dead or not, you will come Judge," the first voice told him.

"Of course," the Judge nodded his head, and all trace of tension left his body. He knew where his loyalties lie. After all, the Omega had saved him against an army that surely would have defeated, if not destroyed him several centuries ago.

All that needed to be said over and done with, the screen flickered back to the Symbol for the Omega Order, and then shortly after died, leaving the Judge in contemplative silence. Soon, he thought, soon the Slayer will die.

Jenny Calendar was just putting away the last of the graded papers from last weeks tests into their folders when she heard someone enter the classroom. Since it wasn't too long after the end of school for the day, and since she knew with certainty that all of 'her' kids, and Rupert's too, were off with that Everheart boy training in the woods, Jenny really wasn't too worried about someone entering the room.

It also helped that the room was practically bathed in sunlight.

However, not even she expected a long forgotten voice from her past say in a normal tone, which sounded like a shout in the quiet room, "Jenny Calendar?"

She let out a short shout of her own, jumping as she turned around and stared, wide-eyed at the old man standing there. He was dressed simply, with European features, including the big nose and mustache. He wore a simple hat, brown jacket, white shirt with a drawstring tie, and brown khakis. But Jenny knew him.

"You startled me," were her first words to him, to explain her reaction.

"You look vell," he said with an obvious accent as he walked closer to her.

"Yes, I'm fine," she hurriedly told him as she walked around her desk, still facing him.

Suddenly she looked, and felt very apologetic. "I know I haven't been writing as much lately, I've been busy." Unconsciously, she crossed her arms, and lowered her head.

"I cannot imagine what has been _so_ important that could make you ignore your responsibilities," the man said back to her, as though accusing her of something.

Gulping softly, Jenny uncrossed her arms and tried to excuse herself, "Well, I've been . . . working, and . . . and I . . ."

"The Elder woman has been reading the signs. She knows that something has happened. Something is different!" he snapped at her.

Jenny ducked her head again and sighed, closing her eyes, almost as though expecting to get hit. Instead, some strange transformation seemed to have occurred beneath the Computer Teacher's beautiful exterior. "Angel's _dead_!" she shouted at him.

Taken aback, he just stared at her, his eyes conveying more shock than the rest of his body or face. "Vhen did this happen?" he demanded to know.

"A little over three weeks ago," she said, looking him in the eye like she very well might hit _him_.

"Who killed the monster?" he demanded again.

"Another monster," she said almost teasingly. "Angel had been helping the Slayer, _the Slayer_ Uncle! He had been making amends for his evil, he even saved my life, and despite that still suffering for all his crimes, even more so, I promise you! And then . . . a demon came. He was more powerful than the Slayer, and still is. Angel gave his life to save hers."

The man, who had been revealed as Jenny Calendar's Uncle, just stood there, staring at her for some time. Finally he sighed and turned back around, stepping back from her.

"Ve are de servants of Vengeance," he quoted the words Jenny had been told since she was a little girl. "Vengeance is not like the modern man knows it, a word," he told her, beginning to pace, "Vengeance is a living thing, beyond life and death, beyond the petty eye for an eye, give and take of day to day life. Vengeance is eternal. And therefore it is Vengeance's vill that Angelus die now."

"I'm sorry, I should have contacted you sooner, but . . ." Jenny started to apologize.

"But vhat!" he suddenly shouted at her, turning on her. "Vhat?! You thought that you were _Jenny Calendar_ now? You are _still_ Janna, of the Kalderash people. A gypsy!"

"I _know_ Uncle," she hissed, looking up at him like she may gut him as well as hit him. "I know."

"That is good, because I would hate to be de one to remind you," he told her softly.

"What do the people need of me now?" she asked, sounding bored with the question, but her eyes never left his.

"There is nothing left for you to do here," he said simply, but took note of the surge of panic that was quickly squashed he saw in her eyes. "But, dare is nothing needed for you back home either. So for now you may remain in your current life and remain _Jenny Calendar_. But I trust that such a visit will no longer be necessary in the future?"

"Yes Uncle," Jenny, or Janna, promised, bowing her head once again.

"Dare will be much debate over this, much debate," her Uncle muttered to himself as he walked out of the room, leaving Jenny to stand there, shaking and hugging herself, as though to keep from weeping.

"What am I going to do?" she asked herself between gasping sobs.

"OK, everybody ready?" Jason asked the silent room as they all sat around on their mats. "Remembering how to breath, begin to focus on your inner energy field. You know how to feel it, sense it, how to see it. For now, just focus on it until you can see it clearly in your mind and feel it clearly in your body."

It was about a day after Xander and the others had finally snapped and snapped at Buffy for her attitude. After helping Jason with the equipment, Buffy had tried to face the accusing stares and glares of her friends, but the emotions were just too high and they would give the Slayer no leeway. Finally, after several minutes of what he called useless meditation, Jason sent Buffy home, making her promise to practice real meditation before she went to sleep that night.

Rather than patrol, as she'd told Giles she would that night, instead she stayed in her room, finished her homework for the day, had dinner with her mother, and then retreated back to her room and practiced the meditation Jason had been teaching them for at least three and a half more hours before finally going to sleep, exhausted from the day.

When she woke up, she actually felt much refreshed, full of energy, and even when they met for morning meditation just before school, she could have sworn that her energy _was_ flowing easier and more smoothly. The others, much the same as they always were, at least were no longer hostile to Buffy, and Willow was trying hard to make it like the whole argument had never happened.

But Buffy wasn't about to forget it, and made no derisive comments to her friends of any form or fashion. When Xander confronted her about it, she'd just replied that Jason was the one to decide how good they were doing and whether or not they should quit.

That afternoon, after school, back out in the forest, instead of working alone in silence with their exercises, or giving them 'Give it up' looks, Buffy steadily paced each of her friends, offering them verbal encouragements and silent looks of challenge, before racing ahead of them in whatever exercise, almost egging them on to do better. Jason did the same for all of them, including Buffy.

And now they were all back in the Library for the latter meditation.

"For the past few days, you know that we've actually been trying to create solidified energy. And remember, you have to use your will power to force it to happen. This isn't any easy, yoga, clear your mind meditation, and the exercises you've been doing to strengthen and increase the endurance of your body is only the most basic and easy part of it. Your inner energy should still be racing from the workout your body has gone through, making it that much closer to the surface, and that much easier to grab on to. Now you just have to force it, with the force of your will to become solid energy."

Jason stayed silent for several more moments, stretching almost into a full minute. Finally, after not seeing their auras change in the slightest, he sighed and tried again. "You have to focus. Your will isn't just a stubborn attitude or straining against the inevitable and hoping for the best. It's more than a mentality, more than a physical desire to have your way. Your will, your free will, is what makes you, _you_! Without your will, your ability to make decisions and have the force and drive to complete it no matter what gets in your way, you're just another drone, an insect that doesn't matter."

"OK, as helpful as all the philosophy is," Buffy snapped, opening her eyes, "that doesn't help us any with what we have to do. I mean, you have explained the what, the why, and even the way to do it, but you've been a little vague on *_how*_ to do it!"

Jason grimaced and sighed, thinking things over for a minute. Finally he nodded and said, "All right then, a hint about creating solidified energy; you need to think magnets."

They all opened their eyes, staring at him unbelievably.

"Magnets attract pieces of iron and other metals," he went on, "Now if a magnet can attract enough metal, it'll be covered by it, sort of like armor." Jason paused, giving them each meaningful looks.

"There are specific points in the body where your life energy flows closer together and can there be controlled," he told them. "These points are called _chakras_. In order to turn your chakras into magnets, you'll need a powerful force, and since magnetism won't work, you'll have to make due with your force of will. Now try again."

With a collective sigh, they all closed their eyes once more and settled back into the meditative trance until they could once more feel their energy flowing through them in steady pulses.

It was Buffy who felt it first, although the others were just a breath and a heartbeat away, she felt something like when she felt her own pulse in her wrist or neck, a point, two points actually on her back, between her shoulder blades, where the pulse and flow of her energy was more easily felt, more easily grasped. Concentrating, like one would concentrate on squeezing one's fist around a ball, focusing on the energy rather than the action of squeezing, Buffy instantly found and felt all the other points in her body where her energy came closer together, all at once.

There was a collective gasp as one by one they all figured out the trick to controlling the flow of energy through their body, but making their free-flowing life energy into a solid form of armor, they didn't yet understand or know how to do that. But Buffy did know how to make her energy at the very least solid, like Jason had already showed them how to.

Like with squeezing a ball, except this was more like crushing a semi-truck down into the size of a tiny ping-pong ball, forcing the energy to compact, closer, and closer together, but the physics of it was the same as turning a gas into a solid. Turning Free-flowing molecules into stagnant, stationary, solid material.

After all, she did just pass her physics quiz just that day.

Willow realized the same thing next, but Xander and Cordelia were still struggling with it by the time that both Buffy and Willow showed that the teenagers _could_ do this.

As they all sat at their places, everyone but Buffy and Willow became sharply aware of a familiar 'air compression' feeling, which reminded them of Jason's demonstration with 1% Chi-Armor. Xander and Cordelia's eyes snapped open and then stared at Willow and Buffy respectively, as bit by bit, that same solid-air illusion that had been around Jason that day, enveloped both Buffy and Willow, but at the same time, seemed to be much more solid. And if Xander didn't know any better, he could have sworn that he saw some light actually reflecting off the air around them.

Worried that she might not be able to maintain what she was doing, Willow kept her eyes tightly shut, focusing all of her energy into the compressing action she was forcing it to do. Buffy knew that she'd have to fight while maintaining this concentration, and decided to test herself before Jason could. What surprised her the most, as she opened her eyes and focused on her surroundings just as much as her internal energies was that her energy flow, and that included the energy she felt she had already 'compressed' and she knew now surrounded her like a living forcefield, didn't change in the slightest. It flowed as it always did, just in it's new form, as she had willed it to do.

Stunned by this, it took a couple more minutes before Buffy finally noticed exactly what the sensation of being surrounded by solid energy felt like. In some ways, she felt even more free, more liberated, not held down by anything, but at the same time she _felt_ every part of the 'demi-armor' she now wore around her. But not until she moved that is.

The field was like a second, outer skin. And she felt naked, but that didn't inhibit her any as she knew she was wearing clothing. It was just the sensation of feeling air as though she were completely unencumbered.

Standing up was a whole other experience as she felt herself move more lithe than she had ever felt before. "Whoa," she commented, the awe present in her voice.

"Cool," she said to herself as she looked down and saw the air distortion, but only from the outside of it. Looking at her hands and feet, but when she tried to see it in front of her face, nothing.

Buffy's exclamations brought the others out of their own meditations, and when they looked, they could only stare in stunned disbelief. Then Willow realized that she herself was doing it as she looked down at herself and felt the change in her energy flow.

"No way," Cordelia stated, stunned.

"Yes way," Xander countered automatically. "I mean," he stuttered, "YES!"

Jason hushed him as Buffy turned towards their "teacher".

"Is this right? I mean, am I doing it? I am doing it, aren't I?" she asked.

Jason nodded, a smile on his face. "Yes Buffy. You have just created solidified energy. Not easy, and certainly not everyone in the world can do it, but you just did it. Congratulations."

Buffy smiled and nodded back. Then looked back down at herself, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"So what exactly can this do for me now, besides be a shield against small punches and stuff like that?" she asked him.

"Remember that first day I showed you Chi-Armor 1%?" he asked her back. She nodded and waited for the rest of his answered. "And how you asked just how much it would take for you to get past even that level of armor?" She nodded again. "The only way, the _only_ way for anything to get past Chi-Armor, is another person using Chi-Armor of a higher power or percentage."

"So what's 100% like?" Buffy asked him, persistent. "I think at some point over the past few weeks I've asked you that before and you said that you would show us after we mastered solidified energy. Well, guess what?"

"You haven't mastered solidified energy Buffy," Jason quickly interrupted her. "You've only learned it. You can only master solidified energy when you can force it to 100% on your own, and by that point, most people that can do this at all, develop their own Chi-Armors."

"So you aren't going to show us anything?" Buffy demanded.

Jason shrugged. "Not just yet. First I . . ."

"Argh! You are wasting my time!" Buffy screamed at him. "Either show me how this Chi-Armor thing works, or I'll do it on my own from here on out!"

"I wouldn't recommend that Buffy, there are still several things that . . ." Jason started to say, but Buffy just screamed again, and then, with air reflecting the light around her like invisible metal, she pushed her way past him, faster than she had ever moved before, and casually knocking him all the way back into the cage with a loud clang, and then was gone before anybody could do anything else.

Jason hurriedly got back to his feet, the others joining him. He looked back at them, and seemed to be torn for a moment before he looked right at Willow and ordered her, "Willow, show the others how you did it, and tell them the frame of mind they need to be in. That should be enough for them to figure out the trick for themselves. I've got to go after Buffy." He was about to leave, then hesitated again and said to her, "Oh, and you don't have to keep on meditating to keep up the solid energy flow. Think of it like setting controls instead of straining a muscle. Your life force will continue to flow, just in a new form until you change it to something else, or something adversely affects it."

Just as he was about to leave though, Willow begged his attention and asked quickly, "Oh! Jason! Uh, just, well, you mentioned that whole 100% thing and I got the feeling, from looking at it, that we did a bit more than your 1% demonstration that day so . . . I was wondering . . . ?"

"Exactly what percentage are you up to?" Jason finished her question for her with a vague smile. Blushing, Willow nodded. "I'd have to say . . . about 5%. Almost 5% at any rate. Keep working on it. The more of your life force you can convert to solid energy, the higher the percentage, and the closer you are to attaining true Chi-Armor. Now I've got to find Buffy!"

It was night. After running out of the Library, Buffy had gone to the last place she figured her friends, let alone Jason, would think to look for her. The beach.

There she continued meditating on her own until she had mastered, in her own eyes, converting her life energy into solid energy. She had even figured out what the whole percentage thing was, as the "percentage" of her total life force that she could convert into solid energy, and thereby, Chi-Armor.

Just before the sun went down, practicing erecting the forcefield around her and dropping it, Buffy estimated that she could, for the time being, erect about 10% of her life force around her into a sort of demi Chi-Armor, like Jason had demonstrated to them before.

And she also found out what this could do.

Something which the Council-hired warrior had neglected to even explain to them yet. But it certainly wasn't hard to figure out once she knew she could do it.

For starters, she moved a whole lot faster when surrounded by the 10% Chi-Armor she could summon. A _whole_ lot faster. And then there was her muscle strength, it was almost like her muscles had no limit to what they could do. She knew this from both pulling cement-sealed posts out of the ground and then putting them back exactly, as well as running and jumping and leaping incredible distances. Slayer strength and agility were one thing, but this . . . this was a whole new level as she found herself jumping over fifty feet straight up into the air before gravity finally caught her, and she was leaping almost an entire mile when she was running the beach.

All this told Buffy however, was that she was undoubtedly ready for the Judge.

At Giles, and Jason's prompting, she had read the source material available on the Judge, and had to admit, without Jason's training, she was way more than seriously outmatched. Besides burning them as he touched them, the Judge could also shoot out energy beams that did much the same thing. Jason assured them however that the Judge would probably rather touch a person, or people when he killed them, because just zapping people long range would tax his powers and wear him out. Unfortunately, the Judge was old and powerful enough that it would probably take several days of constant use before he _really_ wore himself out.

But Buffy knew now that even with only 10%, her newly learned skill of Chi-Armor would protect her even from the Judge's blasts, and most especially would allow her to hit him full force without getting burned herself, as she was last time.

"Any luck?" Willow asked the moment that Jason walked into the Library.

After Buffy had run out, with Jason running after her, the three other teenagers had remained and Willow had tested her own skills at controlling her own Chi-Armor, or at the very least giving Xander and Cordelia the hints they needed to form their own solid energy armor. That was over an hour ago, and after the first half hour, all three were proficient enough that they stopped practicing and started waiting for Jason and Buffy to return.

"I'm sorry," Jason apologized. "I couldn't find her. I even went so far as to check her house or Giles place, or maybe even one of your places. Just before turning back I even swung by the demon bar you guys told me about. Nothing."

"Well, we'll just all have to go out and look for her then."

Everyone turned to stare at the person that said this, because none other than Cordelia Chase was the one that had offered such a concerned and selfless suggestion.

"What?" she asked, not liking the stares.

Jason shook the shock off and organized the group, "Never mind. First thing is to think of places she might go. Any ideas?"

"There are lots of places," Xander answered first, "Buffy patrols the whole town, and we only go with her when she's patrolling a section near the neighborhoods we live in. We don't know as much about all the places to hide as she does, despite the fact that the three of us have lived here our entire lives."

"Being the Slayer gets you into those kind of places," Cordelia wisely pointed out.

"Then as the Slayer's friends and team, which is what we're going to be even if we aren't right now," Jason responded to Cordelia's observation, "so do we. Stick together, because right now we have no way of communicating long distances, but let's start with where we know she could be, whether she would be there or not. Graveyards, warehouse district, mausoleums, places like that. No wasting time, let's go!"

Xander quickly raced over to the cage where he knew Giles kept the weapons and grabbed several crosses, along with bottles of holy water, and enough stakes to go around twice. When he offered it all to Jason, the warrior just smirked and shook his head and replied, "I don't need them, but keep them for yourself. _You_ might need them. For now."

A couple of hours later, it was definitely night, and Buffy was patrolling, even as her friends were patrolling for her.

After the first hour, having kept her Chi-Armor up since she had left the beach, Buffy discovered the downside of having nearly invincible armor around you all the time. It was like constantly straining a muscle that was more automatic than autonomous. Like holding your arm straight out holding only a single, small glass marble in the palm of your hand. Easy, right? How about holding that marble in your hand with arm straight out for two hours solid?

Finally she had just let her energy return to normal, and felt an immediate relief flood her body, and also felt her energy returning, regenerating itself. It would be ready again at the very moment she needed it.

So, for now, she just went about her normal routine, glad she always packed a few extra stakes on her person at all times, even at school or training with Jason. She swung by a couple of the graveyards at first, her first encounter with the Judge being in a graveyard, but they were all unusually quiet. Not a single vampire or demon in sight, or even anywhere near that she could sense.

So, abandoning the graveyards, she turned towards the warehouse district, always a couple of vamps or demons hiding down there, and she had begun to suspect that this was where Spike had moved his lair after taking over from the Anointed One. And somebody as high-profile as the Judge would have to run into Spike eventually. And knowing the power monger Spike was, she wouldn't take the bet that they had teamed up on some level. Probably half of those vamps she'd dusted the first time against the Judge had been provided by Spike.

After an hour or so of wandering around, she still hadn't come across any actual vampires or demons, but her senses were going haywire, telling her they were somewhere nearby, probably watching her and reporting her whereabouts to the Judge.

Good, she thought, because that is exactly what she wanted.

Finally, feeling bored and rather stupid for just running out on her friends, a much-delayed conscience reaction she decided, she started making her way out of the labyrinth that was the warehouse district. She was passing through Wilkins park, a part football field part softball field just on the edge of the warehouse district between that and downtown just as her senses flared and went even crazier than they had been, making her pause and stop in the middle of the field.

And wouldn't you know it, just as she stopped, suddenly and without warning, almost twice the number of uniformed vampires that she had faced against the Judge the last time came out of nowhere. Rather than react immediately, she just waited there in the middle of the grass field.

The vampires did not attack her, instead surrounding her on all sides, obviously just there to keep her from escaping. Her waiting, and baiting, paid off as before her, the uniformed vampires parted with almost military precision, and revealed what had been in her nightmares for over two and a half weeks.

Feeling cocky, because of what she knew, Buffy did not immediately reveal her trump card, instead just getting into a fighting stance, ready for the Judge to either try and zap her, but mostly just trying to get him to attack her. Taunting him.

He saw it, and he had to admire such spirit. It was so much fun to crush!

The demon smirked as he just gestured at her and ordered loud enough for everyone in the clearing to clearly hear him. "Soften her up for me, will you?"

Again, with almost military precision, which she had never seen in vampires before, every one of the undead demons, she counted almost sixty on sight alone, rushed forward aiming to kill her. Knowing she'd be dead otherwise, Buffy played her trump card.

Like straining a muscle, and feeling good to do it, Buffy reactivated her solid-energy field and met the closest demons head on. It was like watching a canon ball tear through wet tissue paper, the way the Slayer tore through the highly trained vampires.

The _really_ cool thing, Buffy discovered that she hadn't in her training earlier that afternoon, was that with her "armor" in place, it was _beyond_ easy to strike her hand right through a vampire's chest, and when she did that, her energy field did something, probably just completely obliterate the vampires' hearts, but the result was that she had found a whole new way to dust vampires.

Moving with more deft precision, speed, and strength than she had ever even imagined before, Buffy was quickly tearing through the ranks of vampires. Some were trained well enough that they managed to block her initial blows, meaning it only took them a few seconds longer to die as the Slayer tended to punch through, or just plain rip off the arms or legs the vamps used to block her.

In a matter of minutes, maybe as many as ten or eleven, Buffy had taken out more vampires in one sitting than she had in the previous month, and all of them were far better trained than the average vampires she met too.

As the dust from the last vampire fell, she slowly turned to face the blue skinned demon. The Judge, at first, only stared at her. He could feel the energy radiating from the Slayer, far more than when he had first encountered her. He briefly wondered if he should be worried.

It had taken him two weeks to heal from the injury she had given him, and that was when she was still weak, only anger and rage driving her. Now she was fighting for revenge, and if anything she seemed even stronger than ever, and was still at the top of her game, despite doing the impossible and dusting over 60 vampires like they were nothing.

He decided to not be worried, but to not take any chances in fighting her either.

Buffy watched in a rather cautious curiosity as the Judge slowly raised it's right hand towards her, and then suddenly splayed the hand wide. From the center of it's palm a bright flash of reddish lightning shot out, arrowing straight for her. Eyes wide as she realized what this was, Buffy forced her concentration, _willing_ her body to push even more energy into her Chi-Armor. She thought, for a moment she had managed to push it up to about 25%, just as the red lightning struck her.

Or rather, her armor.

Despite seeing it coming, knowing what it was, and preparing herself for it as much as she could, Buffy was still shocked with the amount of force that slammed against her. Enough that she was actually lifted off the ground and slammed into the walls of one of the warehouses behind her, and then imprinted into it by at least two feet! That wasn't the only thing either.

She had been worried about just how much her Chi-Armor could protect her against the Judge's powers, and apparently her new skill only worked just well enough to keep her alive and not ashes, nothing said about her health after the attack was over.

It felt like she was running a fever, and had been put in all-wool clothing, in restrictive _real_ armor, and then put into a sauna, which was inside of iron room, which was then dropped into the middle of an active and exploding, and very _hot_ volcano!

Lucky for the Slayer, the moment that the Judge stopped blasting her, the symptoms and the heat disappeared entirely. Her bruises from being slammed into the side of a building however, were an entirely different matter.

The Judge just couldn't believe it! The _only_ person that had ever resisted his power to Burn Humanity . . . had _lead_ that army against him that the Omega Order had saved him from several hundred years ago. The person, while undoubtedly human, had used powers the Judge had never seen until that day. He still couldn't believe some of the things he'd seen that day.

And now it seemed that the Slayer had either been possessed by a demon and lost all traces of humanity . . . or she had begun to learn what that person had done centuries past.

"Another one," he muttered darkly, angry. With a roar of defiance, he put out both his arms and thrust all of his power onto the still trapped Slayer.

Buffy saw the twin blast coming, but she was so wedged into the wall that there wasn't anything she could do except be sure that her Chi-Armor was in place . . . and would hold.

She couldn't have stopped the scream of pain that came from her throat when the blasts hit even if she didn't know how to scream. The pain, the heat, was so intense that all she could do was huddle down and pray that it would end soon.

No one could say what sent her the vision, or if it was just her mind playing tricks on her as she was forced to endure an onslaught of more pain than she had ever felt in her entire life before. Maybe it was her subconscious, trying to get her to stop the pain. Maybe it was a vision sent by a higher power.

All Buffy knew in that moment, when the heat and the pain and the pressure was just getting to be too much, her eyes screwed up tight . . . she saw Angel. He didn't say or do anything. He was just looking at her. In that moment, her whole reasoning for doing this, facing the Judge by herself, training with Jason these past weeks . . . even going on living at all, it all came back to her and she _knew_ what she had to do.

_SLAMMING_ her will on her energy, she kicked her Chi-Armor up to 35%, enough that the distortion around her became actually thick and you couldn't claim your eyes were playing tricks on you, you _knew_ something was there when you saw it.

Focusing, and with the very slight lessening of pain from her increased protection, she pushed back against the force of the demonic energy the Judge was blasting at her. Once she had enough balance and room to move, she got to her feet, and with another force of her will, maybe kicking her energy up another percentage point, Buffy reeled back one of her Chi-Armor encased fists, and then in a surprising effect, _punched_ the energy all the way back to the Judge, who was knocked off his ass by the feedback.

The Slayer only took a moment or two to relish in her freedom before her anger and rage reminded her there was a demon to kill, and without even trying she leapt over fifty feet through the air, landing in the very spot where the Judge had been standing before being knocked down.

"No more games," she intoned coldly.

The Judge got to its feet and only stared at her for a moment, before smirking in its arrogance and nodded at her.

"You killed the man I love," she continued, her voice dead, her body still, but her Chi-Armor still active.

The Judge smirked and responded, "I've killed a lot of people. Some Slayers as well. I think I'll actually enjoy killing you though. Your boyfriend just got in the way. I liked the sounds he made as I burned him into ash though."

Face scowling in rage, Buffy raced forward, actually blurring around the edges, and hit the Judge with everything she had. He blocked it, and then slammed her with a punch that sent her skidding along the dirt ground.

Uninjured, she got back to her feet, and dusted her clothing off. "You know, that's probably the only thing we agree upon," she told him, a hint of amusement lighting her voice.

"What point might that me? The sounds he made as he died?" the Judge mocked her.

She kept her cool this time as she grinned evilly at the demon. "No," she answered, "About how much I'm going to enjoy killing you."

The Judge snorted in acceptance of the challenge. And it began.

"Any luck?" were the first words out of Xander's mouth as the four teenagers regrouped.

They had been searching the graveyards, slowly working their way towards the warehouse district, only splitting up to cover more ground in an area, but always regrouping within ten minutes. Understanding the seriousness of the matter, Xander had suggested that the guys and girls split up, and when Cordelia agreed with him, surprising Willow more than Jason, but still surprising to both, it was quickly agreed upon and without any distractions they quickly searched all the areas they could.

"I was actually about to ask you guys that," Willow answered, depressed.

"Jason, I'm sure we're slowing you down," Cordelia spoke up, "I mean, I'm pretty sure you can move and search a whole lot faster than we can since we've only just started learning this Chi-Armor stuff."

"Well, when I want to, yeah, I can move faster," Jason admitted as they quickly began moving on to the next area, "But as far as searching, not really. I'm new to the area guys. While Buffy may visit these areas more than you do, you at least _know_ the areas. I don't, and without you guys to lead me, I'd be searching blind, no clue which direction to go or anything. We'll stick together until we find her," he decided.

"Well then, while we're all searching," Willow asked him, "why don't you give us some more lessons on how to use our Chi-Armor? We didn't get to experiment much earlier while we were waiting on you to bring Buffy back. I helped Xander and Cordelia, so now we can all solidify our energy, but how do we turn that into Chi-Armors?"

Jason stopped for a moment then quickly resumed his fast walking pace. "I... suppose," he said hesitantly. "OK, while we're walking, without stopping, form your solid energy fields. I never got to see how well you guys could do it."

"Oh sure, nothing too difficult to begin with, gawd, that's so easy," Cordelia remarked, her voice filled with sarcasm.

Xander glared at her while continuing to keep up, and snapped at her, "Cordelia, just shut up and do it, all right. Now is not the time to be complaining or whining. This is serious."

Cordelia slowed down, looking hurt, but was forced to speed up in order to keep up. She muttered under her breath, "I know that," but did stop complaining and started concentrating.

"But . . . don't we have to be meditating?" Willow asked.

Jason spared her a look, one blue eye staring right through her almost. "I'm teaching you, training you how to do this in the heat of battle Willow," he told them, "If you can't do it during a brisk walk, would you mind explaining to me how you're going to do it in the middle of a vampire attack?"

"Got a point there Wills," Xander commented, before he too turned most of his concentration to forming solidified energy around his body.

Slowly, even while they continued their fast pace to keep up with Jason, the air began to compress all around them until it looked like there was something solid, yet invisible around three of the teenagers. Remembering the warrior's advice about how to let their energy remain solid without having to keep straining to keep it that way, the Slayerettes were surprised at exactly how easy it really was once they knew how to convert their energy. And they were even more surprised at the physical side effects that came about as they walked.

"Whoa! I . . . Dude! I feel light as a feather, but like I can move even faster than ever!" Xander exclaimed.

"Holy cow!" Cordelia began to bounce along. The impressive thing was that her 'bounces' took her over six feet high before hitting the ground again.

"Forgot to mention something Jason?" Willow asked as she easily kept up with him, and even was starting to get ahead, her body moving faster than it ever had before.

"Huh?" he asked Willow, sounding surprised, until he seemed to think about it and then grinned sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Oh. The increased physical abilities. Well, to be totally honest, I was so focused on getting you guys into the shape needed to transform your energy . . . I kind of forgot about it. But I did say that you guys would be like a whole team of Slayers once you mastered Chi-Armor."

"Well, yeah, but we thought . . ." Willow trailed off, not sure what she was going to say.

"Well when you said a team of Slayers, we thought we were going to be able to do whatever it is that makes you so special, not _actually_ be able to do the same stuff a Slayer can do," Cordelia told him. Willow nodded and added, "Yeah, what she said."

Despite the stunning amazement that Willow Rosenberg had just agreed with something Cordelia Chase said aside, Jason continued on, even as the others began to out pace him and doing some rather impossible acrobatic stunts along the way. Such as walking/running along the walls of nearby buildings, leaping up and surfing the power lines, and even doing the Hulk thing by leaping the distances instead of just walking or running.

"Well, like I said, I just forgot to mention it," he excused himself. "Besides, can you say that you're worse off because I neglected to mention one single detail?"

Xander, after landing from a leap, turned to him and replied, "Well, not us certainly, but what about Buffy? Not to be a major downer or anything, but what if she ran into the Judge out here and not knowing any of this stuff, overestimated, or even underestimated her own abilities? She could be in real . . ."

Suddenly, the young man was interrupted as a flash of red light lit up the horizon in front of them, followed by the pain-wracked scream of a familiar voice.

". . . trouble," he finished. Trading glances with each other, all of the Slayer's friends stopped fooling around and started running as fast as they could in the direction where they now knew their friend to be. Incidentally, all three of them reached 5% solidified energy at the same moment.

Buffy charged first, the Judge receiving her and trying to turn her attack back against her. She quickly avoided him, able to see what he was doing now that she wasn't enraged in her attacks. Before the demon was even aware of it, she ducked under his punch and moved around to his side and slammed her solid-energy encased fist into his side. Ironically, the same side where she had broken a large number of his ribs just weeks before.

Knowing it was foolish to stay in the demon's attack range, she quickly jumped back and readied herself for his counter attack, whether it be with his energy attacks, some hidden minions, or with fists and feet.

Instead the Judge just stood there, apparently stunned, before falling to his knees, his arms curling around his chest in pain. The Slayer just stood there, smirking, and relishing the creature that had killed Angel being in pain.

"Well if that's all you can take, this isn't going to take very long is it?" she asked him in a mocking tone. "Not much without your demonic powers to _burn away humanity_, are you? If it wasn't for that, I bet any Slayer would have taken you out long before now, huh? Now I know I'm going to enjoy this!"

She stepped forward with the intentions of ripping his head right off, but the moment she got within a few feet of him, he suddenly whirled on her and blasted her practically point blank with his demonic energy.

She cried out with the pain, barely able to keep standing, but forcing herself to, through anger, thoughts of revenge, and the instinctual demands that she obliterate this foul and evil thing above all else!

Finally, after being thrown back almost twenty feet, she managed to get her footing and start pushing back against the force of death energy. Despite planting her feet firmly and fighting what was pushing her back, she was forced back even further, her feet digging trenches in the dirt and gravel. Ultimately, whether her body came against something that would not immediately give way, or the amount of pressure she was exerting against the Judge became equal to that with which he was throwing at her, she didn't know, but she did stop her backwards movement and after that, started to take steps forward again.

It was not easy. Heck, if she wasn't so determined, she was halfway sure it would be impossible to do much more than writhe under the Judge's demonic death rays. But she _was_ that determined. To take revenge. To kill the demon known as the Judge. To end this threat once and for all. No matter what.

On the Judge's end of things, he had exactly one thought continuously repeating in his head. _'This is impossible!'_

Only one human had ever been resistant to his powers before. And not even that person could stand up under a full and direct onslaught like the Judge was pouring onto this Slayer. And that person had been infinitely more powerful than this Slayer showed herself to be! _It was_ _IMPOSSIBLE!_

One final, fiery burst came from the Judge, which actually pushed Buffy back some more, but she quickly caught herself and only remained stationary for another moment before walking forward once again. She wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop.

Each step was a battle in and of itself for the Slayer. The burning heat, the pain of the demonic energy, and the strain of her muscles as she pushed against an incredible force that could probably crush a semi-trailer if properly applied. And despite her newly learned and formed energy armor, she did sustain injuries for her progress.

Burns, 1st and 2nd degree, formed on her hands, arms, and face. Scratches littered her arms and legs, tearing through her clothing. And already bruises were forming as bright red marks where the Judge had successfully hit her before.

Buffy recalled earlier, just before she had run off, Jason explaining that the only thing that could get through Chi-Armor was equal or stronger Chi-Armor. So, given how the Judge's powers were affecting her so, he either was so powerful that he was stronger than all Chi-Armors and even Jason would be thus affected . . . or he didn't have Chi-_Armor_ and his powers were what he concentrated on and with that, he was only a little bit stronger than she herself was with her Chi-Armor around her at its current level.

Then, just all of a sudden, when she was within ten feet of the Judge, practically all resistance disappeared and to keep from falling forward on her face, she stopped. Shortly, the reason became apparent as all the dark orange/red fiery energy the Judge was throwing at her, became barely a trickle of itself before turning into nothing but light streamers flowing around the surprised Slayer.

She smiled with truly evil intent as both she and the Judge came to the same conclusion at the same time. As despite her energies and the punishment she had taken so far, the Slayer flew forward and landed her first _real_ punch against the smurf blue demon, sending him flying till he impacted into a crater right next to the one he had put her in earlier in the side of the same building.

"My turn," she whispered hoarsely, and putting more of her energy into her armor, she leaped, crossing the distance in one bound, landing on the wall next to the Judge, staying there by digging one hand into the wall for a handhold, and the other going around the demon's throat, her feet planted firmly on the wall. "I'm still enjoying myself, are you?" she teased him before with far too much ease, pulled the Judge from the crater he'd been embedded in, and flung him across the park to a skidding, ground-churning toss.

What the Judge found even harder to believe, other than a human, even a Slayer, was beating him like this, was that by the time he finally skidded to a halt, dirt and gravel around his broken and bleeding body, she was standing there, waiting for him, looking down on the demon at her feet.

"But . . . how—" he gurgled as she picked him back up by the throat and held him off of the ground as easily as he'd held the souled vampire weeks before.

"It's thanks to a new friend of mine," was all she told him, and then kicked him as hard between the legs as she could and still keep her grip on him. She still almost lost her hold around it's ugly thick neck.

Without any hesitation, she then let go of the Judge's throat, and turning quickly, she spin-kicked the demon in the chest, sending it flying off again, and creating another crater of dirt and gravel upon landing. And amazingly, Buffy was there waiting for him by the time he landed.

"I never noticed how slow demons were when they're falling," she quipped as she hauled the Judge back to its feet, this time by the horns, which she then broke off with a grunting twist. What surprised her though, was the scream of pain such action brought from the blue demon.

So she just jammed them back in . . . to its ears.

That collapsed the creature once more, and Buffy smirked evilly once more as she made to drag it back up once more. But just as she was, there was a flash of movement and she was suddenly knocked back. Shaking her head to clear it, she tried to figure out what had happened when she noticed the Judge rushing her. Realizing it had been playing possum and blindsided her, she growled and quickly met the demon's charge.

They came together with fists flying, blows either blocked, knocked aside, or landing with only half-force, keeping things close and personal. Buffy twisted under a hay maker punch and launched a spin kick, which the Judge just narrowly jumped back from. Then, before he could jump back in, she body slammed him from the side and knocked him off his feet, managing to stay on her own, until he swept her legs out from under her. Quickly, both kicked back up into fighting stances and jumped right back into the fight.

It was in the middle of this brawl that the Slayerettes and Jason entered the clearing.

"Quick Wills, what are the odds that I'm right twice in one sentence?" Xander quipped as they stared at Buffy fighting the Judge, and seemingly held her own, if not a certain degree of advantage.

Willow glared at her friend, but didn't answer, turning and keeping her attention on Buffy.

"Uh, should we . . ." Cordelia started to ask, but at that moment Buffy landed a killer uppercut against the Judge, knocking the demon up into the air and back several feet, but then unfortunately it managed to land on its feet, " . . . do something?" she finished after the two started brawling again.

"She seems to be handling herself rather well," Jason observed. At that moment the Judge landed a blow to her head, which seemed to knock the sense out of the Slayer for a few seconds.

"Uh, yeah, but how much longer can she keep that up? I mean . . . look at her!" Xander exclaimed. They did, until he added, "She's never looked sexier! And the rags barely holding on as clothing really works for her."

At that, they all turned to glare at the young man. Then Cordelia slapped him on the back of the head and didn't give an explanation. Willow and Jason both assumed it was because she was physically closest to him.

When they turned back however, it did indeed look like Buffy was almost through. The punch the Judge had landed seemed to have knocked her a little off balance, cause she was obviously slowing down, and her blocks and blows were coming with less force. And while the Judge was in equal, or worse shape, it was obvious the demon had slightly more endurance and more base strength at its disposal.

Finally, the Judge landed a combo, completely unblocked, which floored the Slayer after a killer uppercut. For a moment, just a single moment, everything was quiet, the Judge standing there over the Slayer, who was struggling to get back up, and the others all holding their breath in anticipation and dread.

The Judge smirked one last time, raising his fists over his head, doubling them up to maximize the force in landing. Then, slowly, dark red and orange energy began to build up in the waiting attack. Needless to say, the Judge fully intended to kill the Slayer with the next blow.

"Jason!" Willow shouted, panic coursing through her body.

"OK, now maybe she needs some help," he calmly observed.

That seemed to be the last straw for the group of friends as Cordelia's face became "annoyed" and Xander suddenly rushed forward and grabbed the young warrior by the collar and hauled him closer and hissed in his face, "All right dude, enough is ENOUGH! You claim to be this warrior with these amazing powers and skills. Well NOW is the time to show them off. No more holding back Everheart! Either save Buffy right now, or . . . so help me . . ." Xander left the threat hanging, but it was still very real.

Jason smirked, and just like that, a field of solid air surrounded him, throwing Xander off of him, despite the young man's own solid energy field. Straightening his collar, he asked casually, "You do realize she's going to be extremely _vexed_ with me after this, don't you?" They just kept glaring at him, so he sighed and turned back around to face the scene, where the Judge was charging even more energy into his doubled-up fists, apparently oblivious to anyone but him and the Slayer being present.

He sighed again and took several steps forward, stopping when he was equidistant between the Slayerettes and the nearly unconscious Slayer.

"I really wanted to wait a while before showing this to you guys," he muttered, mostly to himself, "Oh well."

The pressure in the air suddenly went up so much that the teenagers held their hands to their ears for fear of their eardrums bursting, and the Judge stopped what he was doing entirely, looking up in shock at Jason as he just seemed to be standing there.

Then, somehow, the pressure just seemed to burst, and Jason went from standing there calmly to his entire body being super-tense as he doubled over, his arms drawn back into fists and he shouted, the words seeming to have more power than in any other circumstance, "POWER UP!"

As the last syllable passed his lips, his entire body was covered with pure white energy that exploded around him like lightning frying a piece of wire, except that the human was not burned in any way. As the glare of the energy slowly faded, instead of seeing a young man with long brown hair and intense blue eyes, there was a nearly seven foot figure standing there. A white-armored seven foot figure.

The armor, as far as anyone's sight could tell, was very real. Other than being white, after they had a moment to get over the glare and their eyes adjusted, they noticed a shining silver highlighted several extremities and designs all along the armor.

Other than color, the first thing everyone noticed about him was the increase in size. Across the shoulders alone he had to be at least three and a half feet wide! The armor design had no true origin, as far as armor designs go. Although, there was a rather unique tiger motif. Silver stripes along the upper arms, biceps, thighs, and legs, as well as over and across his back, gave this impression, but what made it a motif was the way his helmet, which completely covered his head, was shaped very much like a tiger's head, just without the gaping mouth or ears. Black, cold, and soulless visors, which couldn't be moved, covered Jason's own eyes, shaped and positioned the same way a tiger's eyes would be.

The rest of the armor was compact, but the sheer size of it also gave the illusion that Jason was packing some serious muscle, and if the Slayerettes didn't know better, then they might have sworn that the armor was actually a size or two small for the man wearing it.

For a nameless amount of time, everyone was frozen, unsure or unable to move.

Then Jason stepped forward, his movements slow, almost methodical, and definitely predatory. With each step the warrior took forward, the Judge, powered down and terrified, took a step back.

"No . . . no . . . no, it-it's impossible! You-you-you, you aren't that person! That person was an Eagle, not a Tiger! And, you-you-you, no . . . no . . . no . . . no . . ." the Judge kept repeating the same thing over and over again.

Jason didn't say anything, but when he'd finally walked far enough that he was now between Buffy and the Judge, he raised his left arm and pointed it at the Judge. Every one watched, amazed, and maybe a little frightened, as what looked like really big sparks of static electricity began to gather there in the armored figure's hand. From there, the sparks turned into arcs of white fire, normally only able to be seen in a light bulb or a 'Jacob's Ladder'. Until Jason was holding in his hand, an actual ball of lightning. Not just electricity, which couldn't survive concentrated like this in the open air, but undoubted and very real _lightning_!

Jason kept pointing it at the Judge, who was still backing away in terror, the ball getting larger and more intense until it was the size of a soft ball and was brighter than the most intense of Halogen lamps. Then, without any movement or sound beyond a high-pitched fizzing, the lightning ball was thrown at the blue demon, and it moved far too fast for it to even begin to dodge.

There was a bright flash of light, deafening thunder and indications of an explosion. The Judge had been flung back even further, hitting a distant wall, and looking like the demon had been struck by real lightning.

The white and silver armored figure, Jason just stood there a moment and lowered his arm, continuing to stare at the demon. Almost whimpering, and more afraid than they had ever seen any demon of any kind on the Hellmouth, the Judge got back to its feet and slowly made it's way away from Jason and Buffy.

Jason's massive armor covered shoulders seemed to drop for a moment, and this time with his right hand, charged another of the Lightning Balls to the same intensity as the first one, and this one he did throw into the air, but at an arch. An arch which made it more of a boomerang as it flew over the Judge's head, and then did a sharp U-turn and exploded in the demon's face again, blowing the demon into the center of the park, but still a distance away from Jason and Buffy.

The pitiful creature, broken, bleeding, and soot-ridden, reached out a hand to the armored figure and hissed, only just loud enough to hear, "P-please! Mercy! . . . Please!"

Jason only stared at the thing for several long moments, while the Judge just kept begging. Then the warrior seemed to snort, really hard to tell with the armor on, and the Judge's pleas became even more begging.

"Please . . . p-p-please! N-no, no, please!" its voice straining against something.

The white armored figure looked to the sky, and then raised both arms in the same direction.

"No! N-n-n-NO! NO!! NNOOOOOOOOOO!" the Judge shouted defiantly, still begging.

"What's he doing?" Cordelia whispered to Willow and Xander.

Almost in answer to her question, several dark and obviously storm clouds rapidly and far too quickly gathered directly overhead. Already the humans, and the demon, could see flashes of heat lightning and the energy in those clouds. Then there was an arc of white fire between those clouds, connecting them all for just a moment.

It happened at least four more times, until Jason was suddenly surrounded by a blazing white aura of light and energy. At the same moment, five arcs of lightning converged on a central point, which just happened to be directly over the point on the ground where the demon lay crippled, and from that central point, the biggest lightning bolt that any one of them had ever seen, let alone heard of struck down at the speed of light. There was a blinding flash of light, forcing most of them to turn away and cover their eyes, the thunder accompanying it like a physical force pressing them back.

And when it was over, and the clouds above were dispersing, there wasn't even a trace of the so called unstoppable demon. Just one very big, blackened and smoking crater.

"I can't believe you did that!" Buffy shouted. "I had him right where I wanted him, and if you hadn't interfered you . . . OW!"

She screamed in pain as Giles, rather roughly, applied an alcohol soaked gauze to one of her cuts. He didn't say anything, so she had to settle for glaring at him for a moment before turning back to Jason, whom she had been yelling at.

"If I hadn't interfered Buffy," Jason spoke before she did again, "then there is a very large possibility that you would be dead right now. And don't argue with me. Your energy was nearly fully depleted by the point we arrived anyway. In fact I'm amazed, and incredibly proud that you managed to last as long as you did. But that doesn't change the facts, and arguing over them and trying to lie to yourself about your own abilities is not going to change a thing."

Buffy glared at him for several seconds longer before her gaze dropped and all of the anger and tension oozed out of her. Everybody could see and feel the difference.

"I know . . . you're right," she mumbled, but he could still hear her.

"It's just . . ." she hesitated for a moment, and then continued anyway, "I wanted to be the one to avenge Angel."

"I know," Jason said sympathetically.

He walked up to her, where she had been sat upon the Library table, and then kissed her forehead. "I know," he said again, before something slipped and Buffy saw her own pain reflected in his eyes. No, not _her_ pain . . . _his_ pain. She gasped in startled realization of what this meant.

Before she could say anything though, the mask of friendliness was back up and Jason had turned and was walking away. "We'll hold off on training for a couple days for everyone. Let Buffy recuperate," he told everyone as he walked towards the Library doors, "And give everyone a short time to adjust to what they've already learned. Then . . . in a few days, I'll continue your training. I promise."

"Wait, Jason!" Giles called out. Ms. Calendar came in and took over cleaning Buffy's wounds for the Watcher while the warrior turned back.

"Yes Giles?" Jason asked politely.

"Well, you see," the Watcher hesitated, gathering his thoughts and then stuttering his way through, "the whole, well, reason that you're even here, that you were brought here in the first place, well, was to help Buffy defeat the Judge. And now . . . you've destroyed him. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, there is no more reason for you to stay here."

"I suppose you could look at it like that," Jason replied patiently, "But what's your point?"

"My point, or rather my question is," Giles asked, "why are you staying to continue this training if Buffy no longer needs it?"

"Who says she doesn't?" Jason cryptically asked back. Then he just turned and walked out.

"Let him alone guys," Buffy snapped before anybody could say anything, and she knew they had been about to. "He's been through as much, if not more than we have. And we all have our secrets. He deserves the right to keep his."

Nobody said anything for a while after that, just focusing on getting Buffy patched up.

"Did you see what he did last night?" Xander asked Willow as they entered the Library together the next morning. Monday morning.

"Uh, yeah, I was kinda there last night Xander," she replied. "Real hard to miss."

"But . . . he threw _Lightning_!" the teen exclaimed.

"Actually, they looked like balls of electricity, kinda like those things that Ares throws on _Hercules: The Legendary Journeys_." Willow countered.

"Except way more intense," Xander corrected her.

"Way more," she was forced to agree.

"But I was talking about after that . . . !" he began to speak quickly.

"Actually," Willow interrupted him, "He summoned _real_ lightning, and then somehow made it even more powerful. He wasn't kidding when he said he wouldn't even have to try if he wanted to kick Buffy's butt."

"Gee Wills, thanks for the ego boost," an annoyed and familiar voice rang out in the Library.

The two startled teens jumped and turned. "Buffy!" Willow shouted. "I . . . we . . . that is . . . " the redhead stuttered.

"What Wills is trying to so eloquently say," Xander interrupted and stopped his friend from embarrassing herself even further, "is that we didn't see you there."

Buffy just kind of stared at him expectantly, almost as though asking if that was the best excuse he could give. He just shrugged in reply.

Finally she just grinned and shrugged herself as she walked into the Library and joined them at the table. "Nah, it's all right," she assured them. "I may be a selfish bitch, but even I know when something impressive happens. And yeah, I'll even admit, in front of witnesses, that Jason is pretty cool, and if what he did last night was any indication of what he's trying to teach us, I'll join right up with you guys in the fan club."

"Oh but Buffy," Willow tried to protest, "you aren't . . ."

"What?" Buffy interrupted her. "A selfish bitch? Yeah Will, I am. Or at least I was. But I promise you guys right now, I'm not gonna be that anymore. I'm going to try and do better by you guys. You've helped me out . . . so much . . ." tears began to form in Buffy's eyes, " . . . that . . . the least . . . I can do, is to help you guys out with what Jason is teaching us. Heck, we might as well go ahead and start training together."

"Really?" Xander asked. "You really think our relationship has progressed this far?"

The girls could easily tell he was making fun, but the smile only went half way on Buffy's face before falling back into a heavy seriousness.

"Yeah Xander," she whispered, "In fact I think it's long past progressed to this point. Guys, I am so, so sorry for . . ."

She never finished as they embraced her from both sides, the Slayer breaking into tears shortly after. Xander whispered another joke in her ear as he softly, and comfortingly stroked the back of her head, "All hail the conquering heroes," his voice cracked slightly, "Ding-dong, the bitch is dead."

Buffy only pulled back enough to say to her two best friends in the entire world, "Damn straight Xander. And unlike yours truly, she's not coming back. I promise you both that." Then she dissolved back into tears.

END Episode Two

Preview: The Judge is dead, Buffy and her friends, despite mistrust and some rocky roads, are closer than ever, and Angel has been avenged. But Jason still remains to teach his students how to fully master Chi-Armor, and yet the question remains, why? And what lessons does he have left to teach them?

Next Episode "The Journey of a Path"


	3. Journey of a Path

**Vanguard Slayer**

Author: Joshua

Summary: The Judge is dead, Buffy and her friends, despite mistrust and some rocky roads, are closer than ever, and Angel has been avenged. But Jason still remains to teach his students how to fully master Chi-Armor, and yet the question remains, why? And what lessons does he have left to teach them?

Spoilers: Up to "Bad Eggs" and beyond, but before "Surprise", which turns out very differently.

Disclaimer: Joss Whedon created and owns the Buffyverse, which is company owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions. "Chi-Armor" is, as far as I care, a semi-original concept, derived from multiple factual and fictional references, but the term and use itself is original to this story.

AN: Chi-Armor is NOT pronounced how it looks to the American, British, or even Japanese eyes, no offense. It is pronounced with the Greek approximation. Χ, or "ck-I" is the way to pronounce it when you see the word put as Chi-Armor. If seen as chi or ki, _then_ it is pronounced how it is spelled.

Story: "The Journey of a Path"

Angel had been gone for two months now. And she was getting over it. Which in and of itself was the entire problem.

Buffy sighed, depressed and dejected, just staring into nothing and trying very hard not to think of anything, because whenever she did think of anything, even just schoolwork or chores, things that had absolutely nothing to do with being the Slayer, or vampires, or even men . . . she always ended up thinking about Angel.

Still, everyone kept telling her that it was a good thing she was getting over her loss, and Xander kept saying that the sacrifice was worth it and if for anything, Angel should be remembered for that. Despite the surprising source, and the sage advice, the Slayer was still finding it hard to let go. Until one day, after a weekend training session, Jason pulled her off to the side.

The others saw this and quickly and quietly made themselves discreet. Actually it was more like Xander and Willow dragging Cordelia away and into the Library while the other two Chi-warriors went out into the hall.

Jason was mostly silent as he lead Buffy to the quad, the courtyard area where most of the students hung out on their free period or during lunch. Once outside, the only slightly younger, but undoubtedly more powerful warrior placed the Slayer on a bench and then sat across from her.

"So, uh, how are you holding up?" he asked uncertainly.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she replied hesitantly.

Jason shifted a little uncomfortably, then crossed his arms and tried to look in every direction but at the Slayer herself. Finally, "Giles has asked me to speak with you, in regards towards your actions against the Judge."

"Why didn't he come to me himself? I mean, he _is_ my Watcher," Buffy demanded to know, her nervousness being replaced with anger.

"Because he likes being healthy?" Jason asked with a humorous light. Buffy blushed as she ducked her head in slight shame for her reaction.

"Originally I wasn't going to say anything on the matter, but after we had a couple conversations on what I'm teaching you guys, and how well you're doing, cause even I admit that he is an adult and one responsible for the safety for all of you, at least in the supernatural regards, we agreed that you need to talk with someone. I was volunteered," Jason continued.

After an uncomfortable silence, and with a heavy sigh, he concluded, "What you did was stupid and it was wrong Buffy. Don't look at me like that," he added when she gave him a pouting frown at being called stupid, "And hey, I may not have an immunity to the girl-pout, but I don't know you well enough yet for it to be fully effective. You went out, half-cocked, unprepared, and without any back-up, and not even any word about where you would be or where you were going. You weren't, and still aren't ready to face an opponent like the Judge, as taken care of as he is right now. There are stronger demons out there Buffy, and some are stronger even than me! As stronger than me as I was stronger than the Judge. Think about that for a second Buffy."

"Look, we won, I don't see what the big deal is. The next demon that comes along, we'll just deal with him or it or whatever as it comes. Like we always do. And so far, we've always won." Buffy responded to his lecture.

"Until you lost a man," Jason snapped, angry.

Buffy flinched back, emotionally hurt by the tone, and what it reminded her of.

"Are you going to lose another friend to someone or something as stronger than you as the Judge was when you first met him? Because if that's your only plan in regards to how you live out your destiny, then I'm afraid you're not going to live much longer than most of the other Slayers that have lived and died. First of all, you have to face facts. You. Screwed. Up, Buffy. Deal with _that_ first. Then deal with the next demon."

Tears were pooling in her eyes as Buffy tried to understand why he was speaking to her like he was, when he suddenly lifted her head to look him in the eye.

"You shouldn't have gone out unprepared. You should have waited for me to finish teaching you and catching the others up to your level. Then we _all_ could have gone out and faced the Judge together. There are always better odds when you have more people, good people, on your side of the fight. Remember that." Jason told her.

"But we won," Buffy almost wailed, still not understanding.

"And you almost lost, if I hadn't shown up when I did. You didn't kill the Judge Buffy. I did," the warrior stated with certainty of fact. "You weakened him, but that was the most and all that you could really do. But newsflash Slayer, I'm not going to always be there, I'm not going to always be here. My home is on the East Coast for starters! I'm only here to _train_ you. Once that's done, I'm gone. So if you're going to keep going off half-cocked each time you learn a new power or get a new weapon or something else along those lines, I'll happily go ahead and leave and inform the Watcher's Council that they can start training their next Slayer, because the one on the Hellmouth is guaranteed to die in six months to a year."

Buffy had had enough. The tears had fallen, but if her emotional state had been able to affect the physical states around her, those tears would have evaporated before hitting the pavement, her anger was so intense.

"So, this is about me not doing everything you say like a good little brainless soldier, is that it?" she demanded, getting to her feet in a huff.

"No, that is not it at all," Jason snapped, getting to his own feet.

"You know that is just so typical of all the people sent by the Watcher's Council. They're all, 'this is for your own good', 'this is your destiny', 'we know better, you're just a little girl and we have really old and smelly books', and 'because we told you to, you will do it' crap! Well I don't take that!"

"Sit _down_!" Jason snapped, his face contorted in a picture of anger she had never seen him wear before. Despite her stance and statements so far, she quickly resumed her seat on the bench.

Jason took a deep calming breath. And then another one before sitting down himself.

"I do not work for the Watcher's Council Buffy," Jason told her in calm, even tones. "I work for an organization that the Watcher's Council made a deal with after this situation with the Judge came to light. Normally, one of our own operatives, with the full training I'm trying to teach all of you would be the one to take care of the Judge. Instead of just pointing us in the right direction, however, the Watcher's Council brokered a deal, and withheld the location of where they knew the Judge to be. Namely here, on the Hellmouth."

"So other than a target, what did you get out of the deal?" Buffy asked.

Jason's face was pensive for a moment, then he continued, "I was sent because, for the moment, I'm pretty much the most expendable person that can actually train other people on how to use Chi-Armor. And in exchange for the information regarding the Judge, as well as several other, unrelated matters between my organization and the Watcher's Council, I was sent to train their Slayer in how to use Chi-Armor. Good thing about being on the opposite side of the world from those bozos though, is that what they don't know, can't hurt'em."

"You mean also training the others?" Buffy elaborated with a smile.

Smirking himself, Jason nodded, "Yep."

"OK, so, no love for the Watcher's Council, something I think we all have in common, even Giles on some level I think, but . . ." Buffy rambled.

"I said all that to say this," he interrupted her, "With great power, comes a greater, and even more dangerous responsibility."

Before she could respond to that, he quickly continued, "The power I'm teaching you to harness Buffy is greater than you can imagine, and far greater, and more powerful than you've yet seen. And with this awesome power, comes an even heavier, and incredibly potent responsibility."

She stared at him as he paused to gage her reaction.

"Use small words please," she practically begged while brooding an air of confusion.

Laughing slightly, Jason continued, "What I did to the Judge? That was the weakest and most unimpressive powers I have at my disposal. Now, knowing what I did to a demon, of the Judge's power and strength, what could I do to human beings? What about with my more impressive powers? If I wanted to, or was ambitious enough, I could conquer every single country and nation on Earth with only the _threat_ of my powers. Each and every Chi-Armor user has that kind of power. But none of us do anything like that. Instead, we band together and fight and kill demons and protect humanity from threats it should never know about."

He paused, taking a breath and gathering his thoughts. "I'm giving you this power Buffy. But before I do, I need to know that you know how to use it, that you're responsible enough _to_ have it and use it properly."

"I'm all over the killing demons thing," she rapidly inserted.

"Good. You won't kill humans. But what about yourself? Like I said, we're an organization, and nearly all of us can use Chi-Armor. And now so can you and your friends. While killing demons, are you going to accidentally get either yourself, or one of your friends killed, or are you going to do something that's going to get us all killed one day?"

She was silent.

"Because already you've nearly gotten yourself killed, or did the week you spent at Willow's house bandaged up like a mummy not get that through that Slayer skull of yours? Well if it didn't, let me just make it nice and clear to you Buffy, just so there's no more confusion."

He stood up, and then stood over her, putting his face directly in front of and above hers. "If you ever, _ever_ do something as stupid as that again, running off on your own, fighting an opponent by yourself, or not letting anyone know where you are or where you're going," he paused again, making sure she understood him so far, "I will kill you myself."

The Slayer flinched back, unconsciously, from the absolute conviction she saw in those cold blue eyes, and as afraid as she suddenly was, she couldn't force herself to look away from them. Finally he stood back up and stepped back.

"Do we understand each other?" he asked.

Gulping, Buffy hastily nodded, answering, "Yes sir," rather meekly.

"Good," he replied. Then he collapsed into the bench across from her, breathing heavily with relief. "Glad that's over with. I hate being all serious like that. Reminds me of the lectures I was getting as a kid. Still do occasionally, now that I think about it."

Buffy blinked, not sure whether to be relieved herself or not.

"I didn't bring you out here to give you a lecture Buffy, at least I didn't intend to, but what you did was something Giles and I talked about, and this was actually the first opportunity I've had to speak with you on it," Jason explained. "But back to my first question, how are you doing? Really?"

Buffy took a deep breath, remembering all of her pain and how her vengeance had been denied her, ultimately by her own impatience. "I'm . . . coping. Slowly. I . . . still miss him. I think I'll always miss him, but I..."

"It's OK to miss him. But you shouldn't be hurting over him forever," Jason inserted.

"That's just it," Buffy began to cry a little, "The pain is less. It doesn't hurt as much when I think about him, about how he died . . . about what he meant to me."

"It's all a part of the mourning process, and it's good that the pain is less. It lets you remember the good times more and more, and you can remember him for all of the good things he did and you knew him for, instead of the way he died," Jason told her.

The tears were falling non-stop now, but she wasn't sobbing, which the Chi-warrior took as a good sign. Truth was, Buffy almost felt like she had almost run out of tears by now. Instead she only cried more softly now rather than actually stop.

"I don't think I want the pain to stop," she whispered through her tears.

Jason looked over at her, her head face down, her hands wringing themselves together almost constantly, her hair falling down to cover her face as teardrops fell to splash on the pavement and her clothes.

"Let me tell you about something that happened to me a few years ago," he spoke finally, moving to sit next to her, but that was all. He looked up into the sky, his eyes glazing over in memory as he told her his story.

"I've been trained by the organization I work with practically ever since I was born. Never questioned it, never needed to. Even if I didn't know everything about it and was a complete stranger to them, I'd still be where I am today with absolutely no regrets."

"About 4 years ago, when I was 11 almost 12 years old, I had a best friend by the name of Amy Rinaldi. She too had been trained by the organization since birth, and we practically grew up together. Amy was about a year older than me. And a hell of a lot smarter too. She was like my big sister, my best friend, and my first ever crush all rolled into one. Although she never knew about the crush part."

Jason sighed, looking down at the ground for a few moments, his face contorted with brief emotional pain before slipping back into the neutral mask he usually wore when teaching them. "She had managed to generate 100% Chi-Armor, while I was still at 50% or less most of the time. And anyone and everyone that can use Chi-Armor is given missions to complete. Most of the time it's guarding other initiates, people training to use Chi-Armor themselves. Other times it's sending them to some place where demon activity is higher than normal, or where it's never been before. Occasionally we send an operative out to take down a specific target, whether a group of demons or one demon in particular. Amy got one of those."

"They sent out a twelve year old girl to take down some demon!!" Buffy shouted, outraged.

"That twelve year old could level a building the size of the Sears Tower in six seconds flat if she wanted to," Jason calmly told her. "And she knew what she was getting into. In fact, she even asked for the assignment before she had been told she'd already gotten it."

"The target was a clan of demons, a now dead and gone clan of demons, and they were hunting in a small town, smaller than this one even. Several young children, younger than we were at the time had gone missing. Reason was that they were being taken by said demon clan and then being slaughtered, some parts being sold for sacrifices or ingredients in spells by dark wizards, which do exist I'm sorry to say. Others were just being eaten . . . or worse."

Buffy looked rather sick, as did Jason, who had seen first hand what those demons had done.

"Amy went in, and she killed all but one of the demons. The one that managed to slice her open from the back the moment she let her guard down and dropped her Chi-Armor. She managed one last energy attack, killing it before she died herself. We retrieved her body about a week later."

"Oh my God," Buffy whispered, crying fresh tears, and holding the cross that Angel had given her with her right hand, which she'd been wearing ever since he died. He'd given it to her when they first met.

"I grieved for months, though in retrospect it felt like years. I . . . I got over her death, though I am never going to forget her. Never." Jason vowed, a couple of lonely tears streaking his own face. "The pain is still there, I still feel the loss of her absence. But it doesn't hurt as badly as it once did. And I'm glad. Because I know that she would want me to be happy and continue living my life, living it the way she did and died living it. When I got news of her death though, that was when I finally reached 100% and gained my Chi-Armor."

"No offense, but if that's what it takes to get this power of yours . . ." Buffy began to say.

"That was the trigger for me," he interrupted her. "For some it's finding their one true love. For others it's killing someone they hate. For me it was losing my best friend and the vow that I would never let it happen again. The trigger is entirely unique to the individual. But . . . there are ways to speed things along."

"Such as?"

Jason's gaze became rather thoughtful, and then he smiled. Shaking his head he continued where he left off, "Any way, my point for telling you that was . . . well, I'm just trying to tell you that I understand what you're going through. Cause I've gone through something like it myself. And it's OK, for it to hurt less. Because everyone but you seems to know that Angel wouldn't want you to grieve him forever. He'd want you to be happy with your life, and to keep doing what you're destined to do."

Buffy thought about that for a minute, rolling the new ideas around in her head for a bit. "Yeah, I guess he would," she finally whispered, wiping away the last of her tears.

"Now, what was that about speeding training up a little?" she asked as they stood up.

Jason laughed, his expression still thoughtful as he answered, "We'll see. I need to do a little of my own research about it, but if the option is available, I'll be sure to bring it up to the entire group. Unless you have a problem with that?"

Glowering, Buffy sighed and muttered silent curses at herself before saying aloud, "You're right, OK? I was stupid, and it was even more stupid of me to go off by myself and try to kill the Judge without really being prepared for him. I'm sorry, and I promise to never do it again. And I've already worked on the including the others in training and not excluding them, so don't even try to bring that up again!"

"Wasn't gonna," Jason laughed as they walked back to the Library.

The next day, unfortunately, was Monday, and sadly not a holiday either. So, all the kids were back in class, and Buffy was only just beginning to emerge from the shell of depression she'd been in for the past two months, since Angel's death. Jason, there for morning and afternoon meditation, during school hours, just went back to his apartment, to meditate he replied when asked.

What made the day rather unusual was in the way Xander and Cordelia seemed to be going at each others throats even more than they usually did, and nobody really understood why.

Not that anybody really understood why they fought so much in the first place.

It all came to a head, however, in Biology class. Leaving out the gory details and the complicated insults hurled at decibel piercing levels, let's just say that it involved lots of shouting, hurling and throwing of numerous organs of and the dissected animals themselves, as well as two weeks straight of detention for the entire 4th period Biology class.

After school, Jason waited in the Library with Giles, Jenny, Buffy, and Willow for Xander and Cordelia to get out of that afternoon's detention. The main topic of discussion, of course, was the two missing Slayerettes.

"So do either of you know exactly what set this off?" Jason asked Buffy and Willow.

"Not a clue," the blond Slayer replied.

"For all we know, it could have been the shirt Xander was wearing, or some inane comment Cordelia made in class," the redhead offered, "Could be both."

"Well, lets just hope that they can put it behind them and let go of whatever animosity is going on between them during training times. I had enough trouble dealing with Buffy's issues! I'm a Chi-Warrior, not a miracle worker!" Jason exclaimed, running his hand through his hair in exasperation, pulling his hair back from his face for just a moment.

"Hey!" Buffy remarked at the shot Jason had just taken at her.

"He's right Buffy, you had issues," Willow rebuked her friend.

Grumbling, but no longer protesting, the Slayer crossed her arms and sat down with a huff.

"How much longer until detention is over?" Jason asked.

"Shouldn't be too much longer," Giles answered, "In fact the afternoon detentions should already be over, so they should be along shortly."

"Should . . ." Jason trailed off, staring into space for several moments before turning his attention fully to the Library doors. "Oh, here they are," he said with surprise.

"Huh? What are you . . ." Buffy started to ask when at that very moment, Xander and Cordelia walked in through the swing doors, neither exactly grinning.

"Wow, that's a cool trick," Willow commented.

Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Great, well now that we're all here, I think its time to move on in your training," Jason quickly interrupted, sensing the tension between the two brunettes that had just entered the room.

"Fine, whatever," Cordelia grumbled, taking her place.

"Fine!" Xander snapped, moving to the opposite side from Cordelia.

Jason let out a deep breath, running his fingers through his long hair, which strangely moved right back to the exact same place, covering half his face where it had been before he put his hand back down. It was going to be a long session.

"First, you should know we won't be going through physical training today. I think it's time to show you all the next step. But first, I have to explain just a little bit more about Chi-Armor and what it means," he explained.

"About time," Buffy grumbled as she sat down to listen.

"Buffy," Willow admonished, causing the Slayer to blush slightly.

Ignoring this, Jason stood and began to speak.

"You should know that, up until now, I haven't really been _training_ you. I've been conditioning you. Getting your bodies, minds, and even your life energy up to par. As of today, we begin the true training in teaching you how to develop your energy into a solidified form of energy and manifest it as Chi-Armor. The first step, once you've mastered your energy flow, is to attain oneness with your Animal Spirit Guide. This is important because your guides can provide you with what you need, as well as be a catalyst into forming your armor."

"There is actually a couple of ways to do this, but I prefer one of two ways. One way is to go on Walkabout. Which is just the fancy way of saying that I'd be sending each of you into the wilderness, alone, to survive and wander around until your Spirit Guide found you, talked to you, and helped you get back."

Each of the other teenagers blanched and looked around at each other and at Jason, before Cordelia raised her hand, and said, "I don't think I want to do that one."

Jason smiled and continued, "I didn't think you would, so which is why I've decided to go with the other option. Intense, deep meditation, but more than that too. The Native Americans used to do the second option, which is used quite a bit more often. And it's also used to speak with one's Animal Guide in all matter of things. If you manage to actually reach and make contact with your Guide, then chances are very good that you'll be able to communicate with them all the time. They'd be with you constantly, and after this, you'd be able to listen properly."

"Constantly? I'm not sure I like the sound of that!" Cordelia complained.

"With you in the metaphysical sense. Plus, they're animals Cordelia, not perverts."

"Like there's a difference."

"He meant real animals Cordelia!" Willow snapped.

"There's a catch, isn't there?" Buffy suddenly put forth.

Jason nodded, his expression somber. "It's rare, but it has been known to happen that instead of encountering your Spirit Guide, you get lost instead. The result in that case is that you never wake from the dream state. You go into a coma, your spirit forever lost in the ether."

"But..." Willow looked like she was about to panic.

"It's also happened that instead of actually meeting your Spirit Guide . . . you meet something . . . else instead. And this being the Hellmouth, the chances of that happening are greatly increased. Mostly in the fact that there are actual odds of it happening."

"Something . . . else?" Buffy repeated.

"Once or twice . . . when this has been done, the person has been . . . invaded and . . . possessed by . . . well, by a demon. The result is that they get their Chi-Armor instantly, but it's demon armor, corrupt and evil, and in some ways its much worse than becoming a vampire, because the soul is still trapped in the body with the demon, but unable to control any aspect of the body."

There was a breath of silence as the teens all absorbed this new information.

"So, this is dangerous," Buffy summarized.

"Truthfully, in comparison, going on Walkabout is a _LOT_ less dangerous than the dream walking meditation," Jason admitted. "But I'd still suggest it for all of you, because, despite the danger, despite the chances, despite the Hellmouth itself, I truly believe that you guys can do this."

"Well, that's a rip-roaring vote of confidence if I do say so myself," Xander monotoned, then he grinned and nodded his head. "So what do we have to do? Just meditate like usual?"

Jason shook his head. "I've already got all the supplies thanks to Giles and Jenny. Only thing left is your agreement to participate. There are, of course, other ways, but this is the quickest and surest way to get you in contact with your Spirit Guides as soon as possible."

Buffy looked around the semi-circle, focusing on each of her friends for several long seconds before moving on. Finally seeing all of them, even Cordelia nod at her, a steel look in all their eyes, the Slayer turned to the young Chi-warrior, and replied, "We're all in. But obviously we have a few more questions before we do anything?"

"Ask away," Jason shrugged and sat back against the long table, crossing his arms.

"This is like meditation right, only we'll be dreaming?" Xander asked immediately.

"So, its like a hallucination?" Willow, a breath behind her best friend.

Jason shook his head. "It goes into metaphysics, not my best subject I must admit, but more or less, your mind is going to be going deeper into your own soul, to a place within yourself where your Animal Spirit Guide actually _guides_ your spirit, AKA _you_. The trick is, that going this far within yourself, your outer defenses are lowered, so to speak. It's like this; you know that vampires need to be invited into a home in order to even come in, right?"

Everyone nodded their agreement and understanding.

"Well, imagine your soul as a house, your home even. The danger in going through this meditation, by going this far into your own soul is like tearing down all the walls around your entire house, but leaving the doors and windows locked. Which is why its so rare for a demon to try and possess a person, because it shows real tenacity on the demon's part. As for the getting lost, this analogy doesn't really work, because what's happening is that you are moving your conscious mind to the part of your soul where your Spirit Guide communicates with you. Its even rarer, but like I said, it has happened, that instead of just staying there, some people have gone through that portal in their soul into where the Spirit Guides exist, which isn't really anywhere, thus calling it the Ether. Another name for it would be the Void."

"Which brings up my question," Buffy interrupted, "What should we expect or look for when we're on this dream walk? Is there anything we have to avoid or have to do to get our Guides to show up?"

"The Guides show up when they show up," Jason answered with a shrug. "That's why some people get lost. Their Guides weren't _right there_ when they entered the dream, and probably didn't show up for quite a while, so they went looking for the Guides instead of allowing them to come to them on their own. That's the important thing, and the only '_don't_' I can think of. Wait for your Guide to find you, no matter how long it takes."

"What about our Guides themselves? You said they're animals? What kinds of animals should we be looking for, in case we wind up in some kind of zoo or circus?" Buffy questioned.

Jason shook his head, "Your Guide will be the one and only animal there. It's a rare creature that has more than one Animal Spirit Guide. Rarer even than there are Slayers on the planet."

"But there's only one Slayer," Willow dutifully pointed out.

Raising an eyebrow, but keeping his voice neutral, Jason merely commented, "Exactly. As far as I know, such a creature, human or otherwise, does not exist."

"Oh," Buffy blushed.

"It was a good question though. As for what kinds of animals," Jason just shrugged with a perplexed look on his face, "As many animals and spirits exist in the entire universe, any one of them could be your Animal Spirit Guide. I've heard of, never actually met or anything, but I've heard that there are people that have Guides that aren't even represented here on Earth, and I _have_ heard that a select few have Guides that should be extinct by now."

"What, like Dinosaurs?" Cordelia retorted.

Jason's only response was to grin broadly with a mysterious twinkle in his eyes.

The teens' eyes went wide as Cordy exclaimed, "No way!"

"Never seen them, but I've heard that there are people like that," Jason cryptically replied.

"What's your Animal Spirit Guide?" Willow asked.

"The White Tiger. I'd give you species specific, but Spirits don't work on that level. They choose a form that their abilities and personalities most match. It's really all very complicated, but I'm just trying to get you to understand the basics."

"How're our Spirit Guides chosen?" Buffy asked.

Jason shrugged, making a noise that further concluded that he didn't really know the answer. "For all anyone knows, it's about personality. Could be that the Animal Spirit Guides are mirrors of people's own souls, reflections of the individuals themselves in the Ether. Another theory is that when we're born, out souls are torn in half, and the spiritual half becomes our Spirit Guides during life and then rejoin together after death. You could try asking your own Spirit Guide when you meet it," he suggested.

"Would they answer that kind of question?" Willow asked, eager.

Again, Jason just shrugged, "Beats the heck outta me. It would depend on who and what your guide is, I guess."

"So . . ." Buffy stuttered, drawing everyone's eyes to her.

Clearing her throat and gathering her courage, she asked her question, "So who, or what . . . do you think our Animal Spirit Guides will be?"

Jason sighed, heavily weighing the question before answering.

"Honestly I can't say," he shrugged again, "This is all metaphysical. As much philosophy as magic, as much magic as science, as much science as ancient wisdom, and as much ancient wisdom as new age philosophy. I've met people that were as different as night and day with the same type of Animal Spirit Guide, (different actual spirits apparently), and a few that were so alike that you'd think they were twins that had Guides that would be mortal enemies in the real world's animal kingdom. My point is . . . you can never tell just by looking."

"Any more questions?" he asked after another long silence.

The teens all looked around, and seeing that none of them could think of anything else, they all shook their heads no.

"All right then, I'll get the supplies. I suggest you guys get into your meditation positions while I set up, then we'll begin." Jason moved quickly to the office and came back out with bags of herbs and incense and a large clay urn.

While the others sat out the mats and settled themselves around in a circle, Jason was adding the herbs and incense to the urn in precise measurements. Once he was satisfied, he looked around at them all, making sure they were ready.

"You're all committed to this? There's no turning back after this, no matter what. Learning how to focus your energy and working out is one thing, but this will change things on a much bigger scale. You do this, you commit yourself to this training for the rest of your lives. Are you ready to make that commitment and accept all the risks that may or may not entail?"

Each of them was quiet, looking at themselves rather than each other. Buffy was the first to nod her head, saying aloud, "I'm in. All the way."

Xander nodded as well, saying, "I'm in too. For my own reasons, not for or because of anyone else either."

"Me too," Willow agreed a second later.

Everyone looked over at Cordelia, who was still looking down at herself, before finally she looked up, a hard look in her eyes as she agreed, "We're doing this. I'm in."

Jason nodded, convinced, and said, "All right then."

With a sharp motion he threw one last thing into the urn, which suddenly exploded, a bright white and gray cloud of smoke coming from it, quickly covering them all. The next thing they knew, darkness swallowed each of them.

_Buffy_

Once the smoke had actually faded, Buffy was somewhat surprised to find herself where she was. For starters, she'd been sitting before, and now was standing, and secondly, she wasn't in the library anymore. In fact, it looked like she wasn't even in America anymore.

The sky was a clear blue, marked occasionally by a fluffy white cloud, but the sun was directly overhead, and even for California that was not normal. She was also standing in the middle of a large, almost endless it seemed, grass plain, the wind constantly blowing over it, moving the grass like waves of green and gold. Looking straight ahead she saw what had to be the only landmark for hundreds of miles in every direction. It stood out like a sore thumb, literally. It was, guessing from the distance, a very, very large rock, sitting out in a grass field like an island in the ocean.

Remembering what this was, Buffy calmed down considerably and decided that, given that everything here was supposed to be a part of her own soul, it would be OK to start heading for that rock outcropping. Besides, she needed a reference point and the rock was as good as any.

She didn't really feel like admitting that she also had a bizarre instinct to go to the rock that she simply couldn't explain.

An unknown amount of time later, Buffy stopped walking. The rock, bigger now, but still a ways off, was still before her, waiting, but that wasn't the problem. She was being followed. No, more than that. She was being hunted.

Turning around she stared right at a bushel of grass that somehow seemed thicker than that around it. Despite this, she knew that was where her stalker was.

"Come on out," she said, "I've actually been looking for you. You're why I'm here."

Nothing. At least nothing at first.

The wind continued to blow, never stopping, and carried across it came a soft rumbling sound. Or rather, a growl. Buffy's eyes went wide when she saw the golden green eyes staring, almost disembodied, out at her from the grass. A deep instinct, built directly into her DNA and animal-brain by millions of years of evolution, surged with an overwhelming panic and fear, flooding her with adrenaline.

Despite this, Buffy stood her ground, staring right back until the disembodied eyes attached themselves to a large sandy-golden frame, with a vaguely feline shape. Taking a step back, she realized that she was staring at a lion. A lioness more specifically as she saw no sign of a mane.

"H-h-hi?" she squeaked, her fear leaking out. And this wasn't just the fear of being alone in the middle of nowhere and encountering a known predator that has on occasion been known to kill humans, but this fear came from the vaguest sense that she was somehow trespassing where she was not allowed to be and had just got caught.

"You should have detected me much sooner, Slayer," came a familiar voice from the brush.

Buffy's fear evaporated instantly, replaced with confusion. Had the Lioness just _spoken_ to her? Even more confusing was that the voice that had spoken had been her _mother's voice_, but it also quite clearly came from the Lioness.

Suddenly, Buffy remembered what Jason had said. The Spirits chose forms that most suited their powers, abilities, attributes, and personalities. So besides this spirit being like a lioness, she also apparently sounded like Buffy's own mother, though for what reasons Buffy had yet to discover.

"W-what do you mean?" Buffy asked, her confusion and fear leaking into her voice.

"I followed you from the moment you arrived here in this place, but you've only just become aware of my presence. A Slayer should be more vigilant and aware of her surroundings."

Feeling that she'd just been insulted, and having faced things a LOT scarier than a lioness calmly sitting in the grass staring at her, Buffy threw away her fear and glared angrily at the spirit. "I'll have you know that I knew you were there long before I let you know I knew you were there!" she snapped.

"You knew I was here, but you didn't know _where_ I was," the lioness logically retorted.

Scowling in frustration, Buffy crossed her arms and asked, "So what's supposed to happen anyway? Jason didn't exactly explain what was supposed to happen once we found our Animal Spirit Guides, he only said that you _might_ be able to help us achieve Chi-Armor."

"He told you the truth, as he understands it," the lioness replied.

"So? What's supposed to happen?" Buffy lost patience after several more moments of heavy silence, save for the constant wind blowing over the grassy plain.

"That's up to you," the spirit answered, "I can only guide you, it's part of the title. You're the one that must decide to walk down the path and you must be the one to walk it. I may walk with you, but the challenges you'll face along the path you and you alone must face."

"Talk about cryptic," Buffy muttered.

"OK, well then, guide me to the path that leads me to getting Chi-Armor, how about that?" she blurted.

"Are you sure that you truly wish to go down that path? It will change your life forever from what it was. Nothing will be the same. Buffy . . . are you sure you're ready?"

It was spooky, what with the Lioness speaking with her own mother's voice, it was like her real mother was asking the question, and it gave her the same hesitation in deciding, making her think things through.

But.

But Angel was dead. Jason was training her and the others, and they were advancing all the time. Things were already different, more different than they'd been before. Did she really want things to change even more? Without knowing whether those changes would be good . . . or bad?

She shrugged, "Things are going to change anyway. Things changed after I became the Slayer, so why should I expect anything else?"

For a moment, she had the strangest inclination the Lioness was grinning at her. "That's very wise. But just because you accept that things _will_ change, does not mean that you are ready for them to."

"So make me ready," Buffy challenged.

In one smooth movement, the Lioness was on her "feet", and almost right in Buffy's face.

"I was waiting for you to say that," she growled softly. She turned towards the rock still in the distance. "We will have a race. The first one to Pride Rock wins. A warning though, interfering with the other racer is more than just allowed, it's expected. I can, and will attack you at any time, and of course you are allowed to do the same against me. Agreed?"

Despite intimidated by the sudden aggression from the spirit, Buffy had no doubt about her decision, nor any hesitation. "Agreed," she said, and then punched the spirit in the muzzle, knocking it back into the grass, she then took off running straight for the rock as fast as she could move.

A loud, long and bone-chilling roar echoed across the wind-swept plain, but Buffy didn't react in the slightest except maybe to pour more speed into her steps.

Out of nowhere, she heard something moving in the grass off to the side, and she knew instinctively it was the Lioness. The roar, much much closer, came again, but it only spurred the Slayer onward. She heard the Lioness coming closer, trying to angle in to attack she assumed, so she angled away and then readjusted her course back to the rock, moving faster than before.

Faster than she expected, the roar and rustling of moving grass came again, even closer than before. She tried another dodging tactic, but always made sure to keep heading towards the goal. This went on for quite a while, sometimes the Slayer even tried back-tracking a little, but no matter what or where, the Lioness was always right behind or beside her, roaring at her, chasing her. Stalking her. Apparently the spirit cared more for 'interfering' rather than winning the race.

Disheveled and more exhausted than she'd ever felt before, even during Jason's and Giles' worst training, Buffy finally came upon what looked like a mudhole. Recalling what she could about animals and how they followed scents, and one way to confuse the animals was to travel through water, or to cover their own scents with something else Buffy desperately tried to think of something to do. A closing roar behind her made up her mind for her as she dove into the mud and quickly covered practically every inch of her body. As she rubbed the mud into her skin and covered her clothes, something else happened though. She felt . . . she couldn't describe it. It was like . . . like she was getting in touch with an aspect of the Slayer she'd never imagined before. It felt wonderful, alive, energized, and . . . primal.

Her face a mask of gray mud, the rest of her packed with wet earth, she moved out from the mudhole, going on all fours instead of running outright like she had been. She also discovered that she somehow now knew how to move through the grass without rustling so much as a single blade, moving in absolute silence.

As she moved onward towards Pride Rock, she pauses when a roar sounded distantly behind her, sounding kind of frustrated. Grinning slyly, she continued in absolute silence towards the goal.

_Willow_

The first thing Willow knew once the blackness had disappeared, was that she was standing on an abandoned beach, the wide ocean all around her and before her, a pretty and iridescent healthy blue. Turning around she saw that she wasn't on an island or on the coast, but rather it was more like a sandbar that actually breached sea level. So she was in the middle of the ocean on something that barely had enough room to accommodate her standing there.

That was about the time that she noticed that she was naked. Not a stitch of clothing on her, nothing to cover up with, and standing out in the open where just anyone could see her. It certainly didn't help that it was day and there wasn't so much as a wisp of a cloud in the sky.

And while blue was her favorite color, she felt that maybe this was a bit too much blue.

Meanwhile she was still naked and very exposed. Crying out in shock and fear, she crouched down on where she stood, bringing her legs up, tightly closed, to her chest and wrapping her arms around herself, trying to cover as much of her . . . vital areas as possible.

She sat there for what felt like forever, her panic slowly ebbing away as nothing but the ocean waves kept her company. Not even a sea gull flying over head, or any shapes visible in the water. Eventually her panic and fear gave way to curiosity and confusion. It was at that moment that she actually remembered where she was and what she was supposed to be doing.

This wasn't real. It was just a part of her soul, a part of her. And she was supposed to be looking for her Animal Spirit Guide. Although it was a little disconcerting being naked.

Carefully, and still keeping her arms in front of her to keep "herself" covered, she stood up and walked to the water's edge until the waves were tickling her toes.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is anyone here?"

It had been hot from the moment she arrived, but now after however long she'd been sitting, she was covered with sweat and the heat was overwhelming. The cool water running over her feet was extremely comforting, and it was quite obvious that no one else but she was around.

Remembering what Jason had said about going to look for her Guide, Willow felt that the best choice of action was to stay put, on the sandbar, but it was so hot. And the water was so cool, and if she stayed right next to the sandbar she wouldn't get lost.

Taking one last nervous look around, she finally let go and took her arms down and away and then took a step forward into the ocean. Unfortunately, she hadn't expected the ground to disappear from beneath her, so she instantly went beneath the surface, and would have gone down a long ways if she hadn't immediately swam back up to the surface. Gasping for breath the moment she breached, she wiped her hair out of her face and looked around. Despair almost overwhelmed her when she saw that the sandbar had disappeared, leaving her there to tread in the ocean. Alone. Naked.

"Uh oh" she muttered, treading water.

She startled even more when she suddenly saw a fin breach the water some feet in front of her and make a beeline straight for her. Panicking, remembering every shark movie she'd ever seen or heard about, Willow scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the predator. Until the rest of what the fin was attached to breached in an arching jump that flew over her head and then land with a spectacular splash.

That brought Willow up short as she knew that sharks couldn't leap out of water like that. In fact the only sea animal that could do it like that wasn't even a fish. It was . . .

A dolphin suddenly splashed up right beside her, squealing in clicks and whistles, which strangely sounded like laughter to the treading redhead.

"About time you got in, I was getting bored waiting for you," a voice came from the dolphin.

Willow froze, but then was forced to keep treading water as she almost fell below the surface again. The voice had been identical to her father's voice, only it had come from a dolphin, and it sounded in a good mood and like it was laughing. Her father was never in that good a mood.

"Are . . . are you my Spirit Guide?" Willow asked, her voice trembling.

"Yep! Hey, wanna go for a swim? C'mon!" and the dolphin quickly dived and swam away, leaving Willow there, very confused.

_Xander_

Xander couldn't say when the transition from the incense smoke-filled Library to the blackness of unconsciousness happened, nor when the black switched quite suddenly and without warning to a completely different and alien environment. It was very confusing to him, even more so when he actually tried to identify wherever it was he was now.

He was standing, alone for the moment as far as he could tell, in the middle of a large grassy field, but the grass was unhealthy looking, maybe a little burned around the edges. By the way, large, in this case, indicates endless, because no matter where he looked, in what direction for however long, he saw nothing but the grass around him and the sky. That was another thing, the sky was thick with black heavy storm clouds that looked as though it should have already been raining, but it wasn't. How they were storm clouds instead of just clouds at night, came from the flashes of lightning he saw practically every half-a-second. It was like the lightning didn't actually stop, no matter what.

Finally, his confusion and nervousness became too much and he asked aloud, "I don't get it. Where the hell am I?"

"I was wondering when you'd ask that," a too-familiar voice answered somewhere behind him.

Turning on the spot, Xander screamed and scrambled back when he saw the undoubted source of the voice. A large, (remember what large means), VERY large spotted hyena was sitting there in the grass, looking at him with its emotion-filled amber yellow eyes.

"Don't run," the hyena said with a huff of annoyance, "I don't feel like chasing you."

"B-B-Buffy?" he stuttered, staring incredulous at the creature that had spoken with the voice of his friend.

"Sort of, but not really," the hyena answered in that same annoyed tone that matched Buffy's perfectly. "You hear me speak with Buffy's voice because she is, in your eyes, the strongest force in your life. I honor her by representing myself with a portion of her."

"Wait, wait, what?" Xander was more confused than ever.

"I'd absolutely love to go repeating every word I say at least ten times each, but I don't feel like doing that right now either," the hyena huffed again, and then laid down on the grass, still staring calmly, (for a hyena), up at the human. "Let me put it like this. Everything here, around you right now, even yourself, is all abstract. None of this is real. It's a vision, a dream, a figment of your imagination, it's all in your head. Well, your soul really, but you get the idea, I'm sure."

Xander stopped and just stood there, thinking over what he'd heard from the hyena so far.

"So . . . this isn't real?" he finally asked, having gotten that much.

"Well, yes and no," the hyena cryptically replied, which was something Buffy _didn't_ do, although with the way she usually talked herself into circles, one could never tell if she was ever being purposefully cryptic rather than just confusing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped back.

"It means that you aren't really on a grass plain somewhere talking with a calm and logical, not to mention talking, hyena, with several trillion volts of electricity dancing overhead. Your body is still in the Library, sitting in a cloud of incense, meditating. However, your _soul_, the only part of you that _IS_ "you", _is_ talking to a hyena, which just so happens to be your Animal Spirit Guide."

At that, Xander's reaction was a bit more violent than he'd expected, or for that matter than the Hyena had expected. Xander leapt back, almost running, but he didn't turn around, instead keeping his eyes glued to the Hyena now, his face snarling in an expression he usually reserved for vampires.

"Like HELL! No way in hell is my Spirit Guide a . . . a . . . a . . ." Xander exclaimed.

"Hyena?" the spirit supplied with a tone Buffy usually reserved for the utterly stupid vampires that made him actually feel sorry for them by the time she actually got around to dusting them.

"I thought the hyena was expelled, you know like kicked out when that zoo keeper unpossessed me!" he protested.

"First, I am _a_ Hyena spirit, not _the_ hyena anything. Second, I was your Animal Spirit Guide long before that. And besides, I thought it was kind of funny, and a bit ironic when that situation came up, so I guided you towards the whole hyenas and possession thing," the Hyena with Buffy's voice explained.

"YOU WHAT!!" he roared, actually charging forward some, but came up short when his mind actually reminded him what he was doing. (Charging a very large with very sharp teeth wild animal)

"Well think about it why don't you?" the spirit challenged, "Ever since you were a kid, you've always been the joker, the class clown, the first one to laugh at yourself and at something truly funny. You like to laugh. You've also been highly protective and loyal to every single person that you have called friend and family. Even when they push you away or treat you like dirt, you're still loyal and will do anything for them. You also feel most comfortable when surrounded by your friends. Then there's the fact that you, a male, tend to differ to female leadership, at least when it's a strong female. These qualities alone are the same that most people associate with hyenas in the real world."

"Shut up!" he shouted. Then he turned around and snapped, "I can't believe you MADE me get possessed by that . . . that . . . thing!"

"First of all, I can't _make_ you do anything. I can only guide you, it's up to you whether or not to follow the path I point out. You do tend to, however, follow your instincts a great deal, which by the way is the only way I can communicate with you usually; through your instincts."

"So explain to me, please, why you thought it was _funny_ that I almost raped Buffy, insulted and almost lost my friendship with Willow, and oh yeah, ATE A PIG RAW!"

Unexpectedly, the spirit began to laugh, a rasping animal-like yipping instead of Buffy's lilting laughter. "Swcondly," it spoke before Xander could shout again, "you have to understand what happened with the hyena in the first place. It didn't turn you into anything that you weren't, it turned you into what you _wanted to be_. At that time, you wanted to be the very definition of 'cool', you wanted to get noticed by Buffy, and you wanted to have the respect of your peers, which the possession did for you. It added a few things like increased strength, speed, and senses, as well as a connection between those others that hadn't been there before, but everything else was just what you wanted. I thought it ironic to give you exactly what you wished for."

"I didn't want to be . . . to be a . . . a . . ."

"Jerk," the spirit supplied.

Xander scowled, but didn't argue the point.

"Well guess what, everyone that is the definition of 'cool', was and is a jerk. You want to be 'cool', you have to be a jerk. That's the way it works. Hey, I don't make the rules, I'm only explaining them to you."

"Yeah, well, I still don't believe that my Spirit Guide is a Hyena! You're probably whatever is left over from the possession or whatever," he crossed his arms and sat down with a huff.

The spirit sighed and rolled her eyes.

"This is gonna take a while."

_Cordelia_

Cordelia stood blinking, once she could see again that is. The smoke was still around, but was slowly fading away. Once enough of it was gone she realized that it wasn't smoke that was around her, but mist. And she was standing in the middle of a wooden bridge. It was well-supported, and not one of those rope-bridges from the movies either. Walking to the edge and looking down over the railing, she saw that the bridge was suspended directly over a waterfall.

Finally the mist cleared enough that she could see the clear sky overhead as well as the surrounding forest. After a moment the sounds suddenly rushed forward, the roar of the waterfall beneath, the sound of the breezes in the air, and the sound of the wooden bridge creaking beneath her feet.

"This. Rocks." Cordelia commented aloud. She hadn't said anything before to Jason or the others, but she'd been afraid that she wasn't . . . special enough to get this far in the training.

"You've always been special Cordelia," a male voice suddenly rang out behind her.

Jumping slightly, she spun around . . . and stared. There, sitting calmly on the opposite railing, was a bird. A black, somewhat large bird. It had amber-yellow-red eyes, a triangular pointed black beak, and was about two feet tall from taloned feet to tip of it's crown. It's wingspan, which was difficult to tell given it was holding its wings against it's body, was probably around 4 to 4 ½ feet from tip to tip. Even for a raven it was pretty big.

"What did you say?" was the first thing she blurted, despite the concept that the bird actually spoke in the first place was what kept her off-balance.

She watched, however, as the bird's beak opened and perfectly understandable language came out, sounding very human even.

The bird laughed, with a human laugh and answered, "I said that you've always been special Cordelia. The fact that you're here is just further evidence to that fact. And no, you're not going crazy. I am the Raven. I'm your Animal Spirit Guide. And yes, I can hear your thoughts. Believe it or not, you and I have met before, and are much closer to each other than most of the others are, with one exception."

"Who?" Cordelia blurted without thought. "And why do you sound like Jason?"

"In order," the Raven answered with a twinkly of amusement in it's amber eyes, "Xander. And because at this time, Jason is the most powerful male that you happen to respect the most. The last time we met, I sounded like Rupert Giles. Keep in mind Cordelia, I'm a spirit, I don't actually have a voice, so I borrow other's when I need it."

"Oh," she replied.

"Why is Xander closer to his Spirit Guide?" she asked, still working through everything the Raven had said to her so far.

"He tends to go with his instincts more often, and that's how we spirits communicate with those we guide; through their instincts. Although, I have the feeling that he's not going to be happy when he learns who and what his Animal Spirit Guide really is."

"Why not?"

The Raven laughed again. "It's a hyena. Xander had a bad experience a while back. I'm sure you've heard the stories, dealing with some hyenas at the zoo."

"How do you know that?" Cordelia asked.

The Raven gave a strange little bird-shrug and answered, "It's difficult to explain in ways that you would understand. Suffice it to say, Xander is the closest person to you, and that's how I know who and what his Animal Spirit Guide is. And to answer your next question before you ask, yes, we have met before. But not like this. Like I said, spirits communicate with humans primarily through their instincts, but you don't _always_ follow your instincts, do you Cordelia?"

Blushing slightly, though not knowing why, she shook her head no.

"Then when have we met before?" she wanted to know.

"Through dreams. The last time, as I said, I sounded like Giles, and the dream was you running from vampires. I tried to guide you away from them in the dream and manipulated the dream events so that there was a place of safety waiting for you."

"I remember," she mumbled, trying to remember the entire dream.

"It was those nightmares I used to have all the time. Back during that summer, after I found out about Buffy and the Hellmouth almost opened," she said. "I was being chased by these vampires, my car broke down, and then . . . and then I had to run . . ." She hesitated, struggling to remember all of the dream. "But then . . . then . . . then I, I . . ."

"You ran to the Library, in the dream," the Raven supplied.

Cordelia's eyes went wide as the rest of the dream slammed back into her consciousness. "And all of the others were there waiting for me. Buffy, Giles, Miss Calendar, Willow . . . Xander. They were all there and they . . . they protected me."

"It was what got me to start paying more attention to them and what they were doing. You did that?" she asked, not sounding angry.

The Raven gave that weird little bird-shrug again and answered, "Do you regret that?"

She shook her head no without hesitation, silent as she reflected and thought over the things what the Raven had told her.

The bird just continued to sit there, apparently waiting for her to think things through, being incredibly patient. Finally, Cordelia asked, "So, wait a sec, what did you mean by saying Xander was the closest to me? What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway?!"

"I'll let you figure that out when you're ready," the Raven grinned at her, though she couldn't quite figure out how a bird could grin. "In the mean time, we've got other things to discuss, like how you're going to achieve Chi-Armor?"

That brought the young socialite up short.

"So, how do I do it? Jason . . . you . . . I mean, Jason told us that we had to talk to you . . . or someone, or something in order to figure out how to work the next step in order to get 100% Chi-Armor. So what's the trick?" she asked.

"Are you sure you want to know?" the Raven asked, no longer grinning.

"Hello? I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know!" she retorted.

"Jump off the bridge," he answered with a casual air, like he'd just told her to raise her right hand.

"WHAT!?" Cordelia screeched, her echo not entirely drowned out by the raging water below.

"Hey, you asked!" the Raven snapped back. "And you don't have to jump. But then you won't be able to ever reach 100% Chi-Armor. And no, I'm not kidding."

"You're . . ." she started to say, "kidding" but managed to stop herself.

"Why do I have to jump?" she asked instead.

"Because," he replied.

She wasn't about to get drawn into _that_ word-trap, so instead she huffed, crossed her arms and turned her back to the Raven.

"_Because_," the Raven repeated, flapping around until he was in front of Cordelia once again, "it's both symbolic and necessary. You're smarter than the rest of the sheep in your flock Cordelia, we both know that, therefore I know _you_ know what the term 'abstract' means. This bridge isn't really here, you're not even here, _here_ isn't even here!"

"So what's the symbolism?" she asked.

Again, the Raven gave that impossible impression that he was grinning at her, but she also felt that he was proud of her.

"I'm glad you asked," he replied, his 'voice', which was really Jason's, also sounded like he was proud of her. "The river running through the forest is Life. _Real_ Life, not the societal farce you've been living in until now. Instead of walking alongside, taking a boat across it, or even swimming in it, you've always been above it, and not in the good way. You've always been on this bridge here. This bridge represents the Queen C version of you, the popular girl, the socialite, the one that's well on her way to being just like her drunk mother. Despite your relationship with the others, your _real_ friends, and your steps into joining Real Life, this bridge is still here and still steady as ever. Meaning that you haven't really changed as much as you might think you have."

"I've changed plenty!" Cordy protested, "Me being here at all proves that!"

"True. This bridge actually used to be concrete and steel, surrounded by bullet-proof glass," the Raven countered immediately.

She wasn't sure how to respond to that, but then took a look around at the sturdy wooden bridge she was standing on, then she stepped over next to the Raven and looked over the side, and saw the waterfall directly beneath her.

"So what's the waterfall represent?" she asked quietly.

"This moment," he whispered back. "You have a very important choice to make Cordelia. If you want you can stay on this bridge and wake up whenever you want to. You'll still be able to use solidified energy and you'll remember this experience . . . but you'll never have Chi-Armor, and, while slim, there is the chance that you could . . . regress."

"Regress?" she repeated, still looking down at the waterfall.

"Go back to the way you were before, only bitchier, and probably eventually worse than your mother is right now," the Raven was brutally honest. Just like Jason could be at times.

She was quiet for a time, and since time doesn't mean anything in this place, there was no measure of how long. Finally she whispered, "I don't want that."

Immediately, accompanying her whisper, a sharp crack, like wood breaking, echoed across the bridge, followed by a slight tremble. The sturdy bridge no longer looked healthy and new, though it was still sturdy as ever, it just looked like it was more than 20 years old with little to no maintenance instead of brand new as it had been when she'd first arrived.

The Raven ignored the happenings and simply stared at Cordelia.

"What does the waterfall represent?" she asked again.

"Remember I said the river represents Life?"

She nodded.

"Well, despite what it looks like, the river doesn't end with the waterfall, it's just moving to a different level, a new environment. The bridge has stayed steady with the river since you were born, following you along all the tributaries life, and the choices you made, as it took you along. But the bridge can't go past this point. It can't continue on past the waterfall. The waterfall represents the choice you have to make. Join and stay with your friends, and jump, or don't."

"So I'll no longer be a . . . be a bitch after this?" she asked.

The Raven rapidly shook his head no in a very un-bird-like manner. "You've always been strong Cordelia. This bridge though, it's your safety net. It's what kept you blind to the Real World and kept you from Real Life."

"Demons, vampires, things like that?"

"And true friendship, love, companionship, and having real fun and respect instead of fear and a mask of false lies."

Cordelia took a deep breath. "It's scary. I can't see the river past the waterfall."

"It's there. And don't forget, I'm here. I won't let you die."

"Nobody can promise that. I could meet a vampire on my way home tonight and you couldn't do anything! You're not even real!" she snapped.

"True, but I can guide you away from the vampire, or if you jump, guide you along a path that will allow you to not only fight the vampire, but win. Even if he has friends with him."

Still, Cordelia just stood there, not moving.

"You know, I'm not actually supposed to show you this, but I think it'll be OK, just so long as I keep the symbolism intact," the Raven turned to face the outward horizon.

Cordelia gasped when all of a sudden the mists covering everything parted and she saw . . . the most beautiful countryside she could ever have imagined and more. She could see beautiful shining rivers in the distance. One, she somehow knew was the river that was even now below her feet, her life. There were others though. Six in total, she counted. One, that looked a little goofy to her, but was very strong, flowed almost right next to 'her' river, at points coming quite close to hers. All of a sudden she got it. The others! Her friends! Their lives, running right beside hers.

She turned and looked behind her, and only saw a tall, forest, blocking the view on all sides, but she couldn't see any other rivers, any of the others anywhere nearby.

Before she could turn back to look into the distance once again, the mists returned with a vengeance, covering everything seemingly even more than it had to begin with.

But the message got through.

"I don't want to be alone anymore. And they need me," Cordy decided. She backed up, all the way to the other railing, which looked like it might turn to dust if you touched it. Keeping her eye on the distant horizon, where she had seen a brief glimpse of the one thing she wanted more than life, and definitely more than she wanted her safety net, she set her feet and coiled her muscles.

She ran, full tilt, at the other end of the bridge, which seemed to somehow be stubbornly holding on to its own existence, but it didn't matter because she didn't stop, just put her foot forward and jumped, just like Jason had taught her in training. She flipped forward off the bridge, beyond its reach, with no hesitation or inkling to hold back. Just as she was about halfway over, when she thought she'd hit the water, she remembered hearing that suicides that jumped and survived said they had changed their mind halfway down. She smiled as instead, she felt justified and was glad of her decision to jump, because instead of abandoning it, she was _choosing_ Life.

A cry above/behind her, caused her to look around and she saw the Raven diving towards her, crying out as a Raven should. Then she went over the waterfall.

Willow

Willow laughed out loud as she and the Dolphin splashed around before diving deep again, swimming just to be swimming. It was wonderful, she had never felt so . . . so carefree before!

They'd been swimming and playing in the water for hours, at least it felt that way. Willow found she couldn't really keep time in this place, this strange ocean. Besides, keeping track of the time wasn't as important as playing was! She laughed again when they broke the surface in a flying leap.

Finally, after diving and swimming through the water for several more minutes, they paused, just laying there floating on the waves and soaking in the sun. Willow was no longer self-conscious about her nude state, primarily due to the Dolphin telling her multiple times that they were quite literally the only ones in this ocean, because this ocean existed only in Willow's own mind and soul. Comforted by that, she didn't even bother to cover herself as she floated face up in the water, the Dolphin still right beside her.

"Feeling better?" he suddenly asked her.

Not even startling at the intrusion, she continued to lay there, soaking in the contrast of cold water and hot sun. "Oh yeah," she moaned with pleasure, "Lots better. Not as self-conscious either."

"That's good," the Dolphin admitted, sounding strangely serious all of a sudden.

"Something wrong?" she asked as she reoriented herself slightly, now treading water instead of just floating.

"Not wrong per say, but I think we've played enough for one day. It's time that you do what you came here to do," he answered.

"What I came here to do?" she repeated, and then her active mind recalled her purpose and she suddenly gushed, "Oh! You mean how to manifest Chi-Armor! Well, how do I do it?"

"The how is actually a lot simpler than you've been lead to believe, simply continue your training in solidified energy, until you can transform 100%, or all of your life force energies into solidified energy. The reason why you're here is simply to add the spiritual connotation."

Willow frowned in confusion, "I'm not sure I understand."

"100% solidified energy isn't the same as Chi-Armor, unless there's something extra to the life force being converted. Which is why there's the whole communicating with Animal Spirit Guides. The guides, me, tells the warrior, you, what they need to do or change about themselves, or really the part of their souls that will be needed to create Chi-Armor. Ironically enough, sometimes it's just admitting a single truth to yourself, other times for other people it's changing the very way you live and exist in the world. That simple decision, that simple change, alters things on a much grander scale than most would think, and the result, when combined with the solidified energy techniques Jason has been teaching you all, results in Chi-Armor, which he showed you."

"Yeah, that was impressive," she admitted. "But . . . so what do I have to do? Change the way I live? Not be as shy? Or, or s-something else?"

"Admit you're beautiful," the Dolphin deadpanned in a way her father never had before. In fact it was more like something Xander would do.

"What?"

"Admit. You. Are. Beautiful," he repeated slowly.

"B-b-b-but . . ." she stuttered.

"Self-truth," the Dolphin explained. "Admit it and believe it. You'd be amazed at what just admitting that you're beautiful, even just to yourself, would do for your life. Tell yourself that you are beautiful, mean it, believe it, and you'll be one major step closer to Chi-Armor."

"Th-that's it?" she questioned disbelievingly, "That's all I have to do? Admit I'm beautiful?"

"And believe it," he answered.

Paling slightly, she almost bolted then and there. "B-b-but I-I'm not beautiful! I, I'm a geek! A dweeb, a loser, like Cordelia always says. I-I-I'm not beautiful! Not like Cordelia, or or Buffy! Hell, even Harmony's prettier than I am!"

"And that's why all you have to do is admit that you're beautiful, instead of anything more complicated or difficult. You're so convinced that you aren't beautiful that you've focused almost your whole life into proving it. If you suddenly turn that around . . ." he trailed off.

"But, but, but . . ."

"But nothing!" the Dolphin snapped, suddenly sounding angry, another side of her father she'd never witnessed before.

"There's a reason why this vision is like this. One of those reasons is that you appeared here naked, the most vulnerable you've ever been, just to prove to you that you have nothing to be ashamed about and that you ARE beautiful! What do you think Xander's reaction would be if he saw you like this, here, now?"

As she was oft known to do, Willow flushed red so quickly not many would think it even possible, but she didn't answer.

"Then how about if Buffy or Cordelia saw you like this?"

"Buffy would probably try to make me feel good about myself . . . kinda like you are. But Cordelia," Willow's embarrassed blush was briefly replaced with an angry flush. "She'd probably start sneering at me and pointing out my flaws, and then making fun of me because of them."

"Why would she do that you think?" the Dolphin rhetorically questioned, "Maybe she's jealous?" he asked.

Willow opened her mouth to protest that Cordelia had nothing to be jealous of, when her mind kicked in again, this time bringing forth psychological information learned from her parents and their studies. The signs of jealousy between females in cultural societies chief among them. Her mouth hung open as her protest slipped away into outright shock as she realized with startling revelation that Cordelia's behavior ever since they were kids, although more specifically since they both hit puberty, could quite easily be interpreted as signs of jealousy, just as much as they could just be blamed of Cordelia's overbearing personality.

Cordelia was jealous of her? What for? It honestly made no sense to the introverted redhead, but finally the only possibility to enter her mind was that Cordelia saw her as a potential rival. A rival for what, the brainiac redhead couldn't begin to guess, but she couldn't deny the simple logic of her conclusions. And if Cordelia saw her, Willow Rosenberg, as some sort of rival, then that would mean that Willow had attributes that made her Cordelia's equal, and potentially her superior. Which could mean only one thing to her logic-driven mind.

She was beautiful.

Willow Rosenberg was . . . is beautiful.

"I'm . . . beautiful," she whispered quietly, no longer treading water, but not falling beneath the surface of the ocean either.

"What was that?" the Dolphin asked with an expectant grin in his voice.

"I'm beautiful," she repeated.

"I am beautiful."

And she believed it.

A sudden blinding flash of light that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, the ocean, the dolphin, and Willow all disappeared.

Buffy

The Lioness was a better tracker than Buffy had given her credit for, and also apparently cared more for 'interfering' with Buffy herself more than winning the race. Which, she was beginning to realize, was more an exercise than an actual goal of something that _needed_ to be done. She hadn't actually _seen_ the Lioness since the race had begun and she'd taken the cheap shot at the spirit, but she'd sensed and heard her.

Quite frankly all this running around was beginning to frustrate her, and as she rested for a moment she thought of what she should do.

On the one hand she could just ignore the Lioness' sounds and presence and make way for the rock as fast as she could possibly go, and react to the Lioness when she actually showed up. But then on the other, she could do to the Lioness what the spirit was doing to her, harassing, chasing, intimidating and so forth. Either way, she decided, it was better than all this running around and avoiding the fight that was almost inevitable.

The goal, however, remained the same. Get Chi-Armor, and according to the Lioness, she had to win this race. That was what finally made up her mind.

Getting up, now rested, she looked around, found the rock, and started running as fast as she could possibly make herself move, wishing with all her might to make it to the rock and win the race.

Almost instantly, she started hearing the Lioness' cries again, seeming to come right at her, but she ignored them, keeping her course as direct and straight as ever. Curiously, when it sounded like Lioness was almost literally on her butt, she never changed her pace or course so much as a micron. Not even when the roar sounded practically in her ear.

She smiled when she could finally see the base of the mountain, and grinned savagely as she realized she still 'heard' the Lioness directly behind her, but the spirit still hadn't done anything and Buffy still hadn't seen her since first getting here. It was an illusion.

Almost to the base she suddenly felt something. It defied description, but if forced to, she would call it some kind of instinct. Just before she reached the wall of rock that was the mountain, she stopped and leaped backwards in a spinning back flip, all in the same instant. She landed in a three-point stance and watched as the Lioness came almost literally out of nowhere, now standing between herself and her goal.

Again, that indescribable instinct surfaced, somehow communicating that she had to defeat the spirit in combat in order to make it past her and win her goal. Before she might have been apprehensive about facing a Lioness, even one on the spirit plane, but she felt differently now. She was the Slayer! And there was _nothing_ that she could not defeat, even if it killed her in the process. If it meant protecting the others, if it meant protecting Life, then there was nothing that would stop her!

The revelation almost startled her, but she didn't outwardly show it, instead stalking silently from the grass to face her spirit guide in battle.

"Are you sure you're ready for this Buffy?" the Lioness asked, again in her mother's voice.

"Are you sure _you're_ ready?" the Slayer teasingly retorted.

The Lioness smirked in a way that was almost human, but no less proud of her. Buffy returned the smirk, but more with a new-found confidence that made her feel invincible almost. This was tempered, of course, by her experience and simple logic. She wasn't invincible. But she was damn hard to beat, she knew that much.

Pleasantries exchanged, Slayer and Lioness launched at each other, roaring with savagery and ground-shaking intensity. The battle was on.

Xander

Xander and the Hyena sat facing each other on the dark grassy plain. If one were an outsider, they might think the boy and the spirit were involved in some kind of staring contest. Of course it was a little more complicated than that.

"Y'know, I don't actually have to blink. Neither do you come to think of it," the Hyena commented to her charge, not that he'd admitted as much yet, which was close to the whole point.

"I'm not leaving until my real Animal Spirit Guide shows up, and I'm not taking my eye off of you until you disappear!" the human angrily retorted.

"OK, that's starting to get _REAL_ old!" the Hyena, losing patience, snapped using Buffy's voice.

"I don't care. You're some remnant of the hyena-possession! There is no way in HELL that my Animal Spirit Guide is actually a _Hyena_!" Xander near-shouted.

"Well, deny it all you want, won't change the fact that it's true," the Hyena calmly pointed out, crossing its forepaws like Buffy sometimes did, crossing her arms when she was huffed up with (in her mind) righteous anger.

"Oh, don't even start!" Xander suddenly found himself snapping, "You're hardly the innocent one! Hell, even if you're right, _not_ that I'm admitting it, and you are my Spirit Guide, then YOU'RE the one that got me possessed by the hyena in the first place!"

"I thought we'd move past that," she grumbled.

"I HURT MY FRIENDS!!" he suddenly roared, actually startling the Hyena into retreating a few paces. "I treated Willow, _WILLOW_, like dirt! I trampled on her feelings like the bullies I always HATED! I nearly _raped_ Buffy! I ATE A PIG RAW!! Do you have ANY idea just how much I _hated_ myself after that was over! It took everything I had just to pretend I didn't remember it! So I didn't _just_ hurt my friends, I LIED to them too! And if you honestly think that I've just 'moved past' that, then you really don't know me at all!" That said, he crossed his own arms and in a display of ultimate contempt, turned his back on the Hyena and sat back down on the burned grass.

"I guess I don't," the Hyena quietly admitted after several minutes of heavy silence.

He heard some rustling among the grass, and then before he knew it, the spirit had sidled up next to him and laid back down, though with more of a sour mood than she'd had before. He was kind of startled that she hadn't attacked him or tried anything else, but not as much as he should have been, as though he'd subconsciously known that the Hyena would never purposefully attack him or try to do anything that would intentionally hurt him.

Realizing this, she surprised him again when he realized that the spirit beside him was actually and truly sad. Sad that she had failed him, sad that she had hurt him, sad that he had rejected her as his Spirit Guide, or sad for any number of other reasons, he couldn't say exactly which, only that he knew she was sad. Before he even realized it, he found himself gently petting her head, almost in a sympathetic gesture. He almost stopped, except that he saw that it really was helping her, and that, for some reason he just couldn't explain, made him feel better too.

"So what's the real deal here?" he asked finally.

"I'm not going to bother wasting my non-existent breath repeating what I've already told you," she mumbled with an almost-purr at his petting attention.

"So... you're my Animal Spirit Guide?" he tentatively asked.

"Yeah. Not much either of us can do about that by the way. It's kind of decided by the Higher Powers, y'know God, before you were even born. No refunds or exchanges. Sucks, I know," she mumbled again.

"Why did you do that to me?" he quietly asked after a minute of heavy silence, which was made even more so by the thunder-less lightning raging over the plain.

"It was what you wanted. And if it hadn't been you, it might have been Buffy or worse Willow. I was also the first, out of the Animal Spirits of you and your friends, that detected what was about to happen. Maybe . . . maybe things got a little out of hand. It was kind of supposed to be a life-lesson thing. I did notice that you had fewer fantasies of being 'cool' after it was over."

Xander took a deep breath and let out a slow, controlled, sigh.

"I hated myself for what I did, never felt I could forgive myself," he muttered. "Now you tell me that it was you that actually was the one that got me possessed in the first place." Throughout all this he never once stopped petting her. "I guess . . . I guess I can't have it both ways. I can't exactly blame you if I can't accept that you're a part of me, and I'll end up blaming myself for the rest of eternity for something that was both my fault and not my fault at the same time, if I can't blame you."

He let out another deep sigh. "And I really want to blame myself," he admitted.

"You're not your father. I can prove that to you, if you'll let me," the Hyena told him, putting her head in his lap.

Snorting, he asked, "How?"

"Your father can't use Chi-Armor, your father doesn't fight the darkness, your father doesn't save lives, and your father isn't a hero," she stated.

"Yeah, so?"

"I'll make you into a hero, and I'll do my best to make sure you never unintentionally hurt your friends . . . our friends ever again," the Hyena vowed.

"I'm no hero," he immediately countered.

"Not yet," she retorted.

He stared at her at the unspoken promise of hope in that simple retort. She stared back, for all the world looking like a lovable dog with brown and black spots.

"Are you serious?" he finally asked.

"A promise made here cannot be broken. It's kind of a rule."

Xander just stared for several long seconds, never noticing that all around them the lightning was striking the ground without a sound and wherever it struck, the grass was healed and no longer burned, changing the landscape to something incredibly beautiful.

"Then . . ." his voice cracked a little.

Clearing his throat, he started again, "Then, I accept your promise . . . my Animal Spirit Guide."

The grin that came across the Hyena's face was infectious, making Xander grin himself.

"The Hyena," he whispered, the world vanished in a flash of light as he returned to his body.

Buffy

The Lioness was impressed. More than impressed, she was downright proud and in awe of her charge at the same time. There was a reason why Buffy Summers was the most successful Slayer in the past millennium, and not only due to the number of vampires or the types of demons she'd killed, or even for how long she'd already lived as a Slayer. And as much as the Lioness would like to take credit for why Buffy was so damn good, she couldn't. The reason didn't lie with her friends either. Buffy Summers, quite simply, was in a league of her own.

The thing was, she'd gotten complacent since the Master and even since Spike had shown up. She lacked a challenge, and was only getting as strong as the Watchers could make her through their repetitious training. Now it was the Lioness' job to make sure she stayed 'challenged' and became all that she could, and more.

Buffy ducked under the swiping paw of the spirit, rolling back to avoid the forward lunge and kicked out with her left foot, knocking the Lioness back. She rolled back forward and sprung to her feet, ready to meet the spirit's next charge.

It came, but she was still knocked back as the full weight of the feline fell down right on top of her. They wrestled for several moments, rolling around in the dirt, each trying to gain the advantage of superior leverage and strength.

Finally, Buffy managed to get in the right position and kicked the Lioness off of her, slamming the spirit into the rock face, which seemed to stun it for a moment. A moment Buffy used to catch her breath and shake the cobwebs the Lioness's blows had landed her.

They both got to their feet at the same time, sizing up how much damage the other had taken and comparing it to what they had left of their own energy. Buffy crouched low, the muscles in her legs coiling in preparation for a leap that would either carry the Slayer over the spirit, or put some serious force into her next charge. The Lioness too crouched, preparing for the next attack.

The explosion of motion, violence, speed, and sheer power was like watching a train wreck between two bullet-trains on the same track headed to the same spot. Horrible, fascinating, unbelievable, terrible, captivating, and amazing were words that could only begin to describe it.

The two launched from their crouched positions, meeting mid-air several feet off the ground and smashed into each other, neither giving a millimeter to the other. Then Buffy, still pushing against her guide, cocked back her free hand and threw the fastest, hardest, most-emotion filled punch she'd ever thrown in her life, let alone her career as the Slayer. The Lioness, as a result, flew back against the rock face faster than the two had met mid-air. Before the Spirit could even get ready again, the Slayer was there, standing with fists clenched over the spot where the cat landed and lay on the ground.

Rather than just pound into the helpless feline where she lay, Buffy seemed to be waiting for something. Gasping to catch the air that had been knocked out of her, Lioness looked up at her and saw what she'd been waiting for. The trick, now, was to make Buffy herself see it.

Using a little trick spirits can use, the Lioness, fresh as a daisy, stood up and grinned mischievously at her charge.

"The race isn't over yet," was all she said before scurrying off and then starting to leap and climb up the side of Pride Rock.

Buffy frowned, squinting her eyes in annoyance and frustration. Then, with a grunt, she exploded into motion and, if it weren't impossible in the physical world that made it all the more possible in the spirit world, was climbing even faster than the Lioness was.

Though the Slayer was catching up to the spirit, the Lioness was still in the lead, her surprise change of tactics giving her an early lead. And Pride Rock was no place to go for some recreational climbing. Not unless you had mountaineer gear, lots of ropes and pulleys and hooks and everything that could possibly keep you from falling to a rather messy grave. Despite that neither Animal Spirit nor human had any of these things, it did not stop them from running, jumping, and leaping from spot to spot, over crevices and gaps in the rock face as they continued their race to the top of Pride's Rock. What was even more amazing though, was that neither so much as missed a single step. They didn't even slip, not the tiniest bit, in their landings.

Finally though, in what could be called the final stretch of the race, Buffy caught up to the Lioness, and both took a brief moment to pause and appreciate this fact. They stared across the way at each other, neither blinking, or even moving beyond what they needed for breath. At some unseen and unknown signal, together and almost as one, they both shot forward the last distance.

Until Buffy just disappeared...

... And reappeared at the "finish line", the very peak of Pride's Rock.

"That's my trick," the Lioness whined as she finished her portion of the race at a slow trot.

"Yeah, sorry. Too bad I can't use it in the real world. Although Angel..." she stopped, almost choking on her tears as the memories surfaced.

"It was Angel's trick too," the Lioness said, not unkindly. She came up beside her charge and then heavily lay down beside her, staring out over the bright wind-swept plain. "There is much we must speak about, but there is no more time left. Have you learned what you needed to learn here?"

Buffy sighed, allowing the tears to fall, here at the core of her soul where only she would see and know. She turned and sat down, laying next to and against her Spirit Guide. "I'm the Slayer. I need to trust my instincts, and not be afraid of who... and what I am. I'm a killer. I... hunt and kill demons... to protect humanity."

"Death is your gift," the Lioness, with her mother's voice, intoned softly.

Sniffling, the blond girl laughed, wiping at her tears. "Some gift. I kill, my boyfriend gets killed, and when I try to kill his killer, somebody else kills him before I can. I'm already surrounded by death! I'm not sure how much more of this _gift_ I can take."

"I didn't say it was your only gift," the Lioness chastised. "You're also surrounded by love, and friendship, and humanity itself. Not to mention you're a pretty decent ice skater."

This time Buffy did laugh out loud.

"I'm glad I met you," she finally said once she had stopped giggling.

"As am I," the spirit sighed.

"How do I attain Chi-Armor?" Buffy whispered as they watched the view of the sunless horizon.

"Believe in yourself, remain true to who you really are, and listen to the insights Jason provides you with. The rest will come in time. Sooner, rather than later I'm afraid."

"Something's coming. Isn't it?"

The Lioness just nodded, then sighed once more and lay her head down. "It's time."

And just like that, everything went black.

Sunnydale High Library

Jason sat back and waited patiently for the flash of incense to clear the room. It was slightly more explosive than he'd been led to believe, and he'd had to hold his breath for longer than he expected to, but within a few moments of putting in the last ingredient into the burner, the smoke began to clear and dissipate in the air. Only after he could see his charges once more, maybe a minute, maybe less, did he finally let out the breath he'd been holding and slowly, through the mouth, inhaled a fresh one.

Everyone's eyes were closed, until as one they all gasped, as though startled, and opened their eyes to see they were still in the Library.

"You guys all right?" Jason asked, worried that maybe this second option hadn't worked as he'd been told it would.

"Holy shit," Buffy cursed, rubbing her forehead slightly.

"I second that," Xander echoed.

"That. Was. So. COOL!" Cordelia excitedly grinned at each of her friends. Her _real_ friends.

"Did that really just happen? Cause I'm pretty sure it happened. I mean you guys would tell me if it didn't really happen, right?" Willow babbled.

Arching his eyebrows in interest, Jason questioned, "So it worked? You guys met your Animal Spirit Guides? Did they help you?"

"And how," Buffy mumbled, getting to her feet.

"Do we have to tell each other what our Guides are now?" Xander asked, sounding worried.

Jason shrugged as they all got to their feet, and answered, "That's up to you. You don't have to, no, Xander. Although I don't really see the harm in it. After all, I told you guys what my Animal Spirit Guide is."

Cordelia grinned at her boyfriend, not that she'd outwardly admitted it yet, and mocked him, "What's the matter dweeboid, was it a slug or something ultra-lame like that?" She knew, though she couldn't say how she knew, that his guide was actually a Hyena, but she couldn't help herself in teasing him.

Xander grinned back at her for a moment, almost getting caught up in their usual playful energy of teasing back and forth. Then he reminded himself of the answer to the question and he lost the grin. He answered with all seriousness, his voice devoid of all humor as he said, "No, no it's not a slug. It's the Hyena."

Buffy and Willow both froze and turned to stare at their best friend, and one could feel the tension in the air as a palpable thing. "Did I miss something?" Jason asked in the quiet after Xander's announcement.

"Long story," was all Xander said.

"So what was yours Cordelia?" Buffy finally asked, in attempts to break the tense atmosphere.

The brunette socialite shrugged and answered as though bored by everything, saying, "Oh, he's the Raven. He showed me a lot of cool stuff too."

The blond Slayer blinked, then grinned. She hadn't known what to expect from Cordelia, especially after she suddenly went from minor annoyance on the sideline to a major contributor all of a sudden. She'd half expected the girl to be unable to communicate with her Animal Spirit Guide. Shows what she knows.

"That's great! Mine is the Lioness. And I so kicked her ass!"

Now everyone was staring at Buffy. "What?" she asked, confused by the stares.

Clearing his throat softly, Jason asked, "You, uh, you _fought_ your Animal Spirit Guide?"

Buffy just shrugged and replied, "Hey, she started it. Besides, it helped me find out a few things about what it means to be the Slayer. Not to mention I realized that I control my own destiny. Being the Slayer just opens up a few more doors for me. So that means that if I don't want to die before I'm 25, that means I won't. Simple as that."

The teenagers all blinked, surprised by that bold statement, but pleased by it as well. It seemed that Buffy's talk with her guide had changed her more than let on, and definitely for the better. It used to be that any mention whatsoever of Buffy's "destiny" usually sent her into a depressed mood for a few days or until something else distracted her.

Finally, they all turned to Willow, who, blushing, smiled and announced, "My Animal Spirit Guide is a Dolphin. He's really nice and fun too!"

Jason grinned and replied, "Most Dolphins are. What I find interesting though, is that most people that Dolphins guide, tend to be unpredictable and very spontaneous."

As the others suddenly started laughing, Willow's face burned red as she exclaimed, "Hey! I am, I mean I can be spontaneous, when I want to be . . ."

"Yes, but I meant naturally spontaneous, and they really can't help it. It's just a surprise Willow, not an insult or anything," Jason explained, "And besides, all it really means is that now that you know what your Animal Spirit Guide is, you can pay closer attention, and follow your instincts more closely. That's how our guides communicate with us, through our instincts."

"Yeah," both Xander and Cordelia said together, "that's what mine told me." They turned to stare at each other, a little freaked out at the speaking-together thing.

"So we can expect Willow to go from being . . . Willow, into a way more spontaneous version of Willow?" Buffy asked.

Jason just shrugged. "Whose to say?"

END Episode Three

Preview: Buffy and her friends now know their Animal Spirit Guides and are one major step closer to attaining true Chi-Armor. What lies in store for them next? What additional training does Jason Everheart have for them to do? And who, or rather what will the Omega Order send to "investigate" the disappearance of the Judge?

Next Episode "Execute!"


	4. Execute!

**Vanguard Slayer**

Author:Joshua

Summary:Buffy and her friends now know their Animal Spirit Guides and are one major step closer to attaining true Chi-Armor. What lies in store for them next? What additional training does Jason Everheart have for them to do? And who, or rather what will the Omega Order send to "investigate" the disappearance of the Judge?

Timeline:Up to "Bad Eggs" and beyond, but before "Surprise", which turns out very differently.

Disclaimer:Joss Whedon created and owns the Buffyverse, which is company owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions. "Chi-Armor" is, as far as I care, a semi-original concept, derived from multiple factual and fictional references, but the term and use itself is original to this story.

AN:Chi-Armor is NOT pronounced how it looks to the American, British, or even Japanese eyes, no offense. It is pronounced with the Greek approximation. Χ, or "ck-eye" is the way to pronounce it when you see the word put as Chi-Armor. If seen as chi or ki, _then_ it is pronounced how it is spelled.

Story:"Execute!"

Buffy Summers was the Vampire Slayer. Jason Everheart is a Chi-Armor warrior. Jason is training Buffy to use Chi-Armor herself, along with each of her friends. And it's the best damn thing that ever happened to any of them.

"Woo-HOO!" Willow screamed as she began to fall to the ground after her thirty-foot jump. She landed perfectly, like it had been three inches instead. Around her, the others were likewise practicing with their pseudo-Chi-Armors.

At first glance you'd just see four or five teenagers acting like they were superheroes, and then doing things that were straight out of comics and cartoons. At a second glance, you could just barely see that there was something more to it, that there was something unique about these kids that made it actually possible for them to do the things they were doing. And if you kept looking, you'd be able to see that each person was surrounded by a nearly-visible-but-not-quite field, or aura. The way it surrounded them, looking like heat-waves off a road on a hot summer day, you'd almost begin to think that it looked like the kids wore _armor_ out of raw energy or heat.

You wouldn't be that far off.

Xander, Cordelia and Willow were slowly discovering what Buffy had the night she'd faced off against the Judge and his minions. The pure benefits, the physical benefits, of the Chi-Armor training Jason had given them.

Xander, the aura of solid energy surrounding his form not-quite visible, was leaping as high as he could, but at the same time jumping forward more than twenty meters at a time. He kinda felt like Superman. On a whim, the next time he landed, instead of putting his feet down first, he angled his fist to hit the ground in a downwards punch. When he landed, his fist went into the cement with almost explosive force, cracks running away from where he hit and a few chunks of the ground flying up around him as well.

Cordelia was sparring with Willow, both had the same aura though it wasn't quite as solid or visible as those around Buffy and Xander, yet they were fighting like they were both Slayers given the strength and speed of their moves. They were using pretty straightforward techniques, but the potential of their skill was equally obvious as they adapted to their opponent's strikes, defense, and Cordelia especially showed some very impressive skills.

Buffy was pushing her energy with every single movement she made, converting every iota of her life force to solid energy as soon and as often as she could figure out how to. It was done more through feeling it out than actual thought, but she was already pushing 50%, and Xander wasn't far behind her.

Jason himself noticed just how much better they all were doing after they'd contacted their Animal Spirit Guides. Leaps and bounds didn't begin to cover the speed of their progress in using solid energy and how close they were getting to true Chi-Armor.

When he first came to Sunnydale, it was with more than a bit of reluctance. He knew he wasn't exactly being punished, far from it as the deal between his organization and the Watchers Council was mutually beneficial and if he did his job right then the Watchers had nothing to complain about and that was better than having them try to stick their upturned noses where they didn't belong.

Who knew he'd his proverbial gold though, when he discovered that not only the Slayer but _three_ of her friends also had the potential for summoning Chi-Armor?

Buffy paused in her training for just a moment to look around at her friends as they almost literally bounced around like rubber balls, each surrounded by a barely-visible air distortion. She smiled in a mix of relief, happiness, and dread. She was now certain that those closest to her could not protect themselves just as well, if not soon better than she could them. Yet at the same time, it was becoming increasingly clear that they were forever drawn into her world of demons and terror filled nights. Most of all, she was just happy that she wasn't alone any more.

It hit her like a ton of bricks at that moment.

She was happy.

She hadn't been happy since... since the night Angel died...

Swallowing back tears, Buffy quickly composed herself and used her newly realized personal revelation to work herself that much closer to Chi-Armor. She felt an increase in the power to her solid-energy armor, but not very much.

That was another little surprise that each of them had noticed one by one. After communing with their Animal Spirit Guides, they could really _sense_ how their solid-energy armors worked and reacted. They had also noticed their other senses significantly increasing, or changing in some way.

Buffy's already Slayer-enhanced senses were as sharp and clear as ever, but at the same time there was a... a grace in the way she moved and responded to the information than from the way she'd been before. With the others, the changes were much more significant.

Cordelia claimed that her vision was almost superhuman, being able to see things at twenty feet away like they were two feet away, and things at a hundred feet like they were twenty-one feet away. She also seemed to be more sensitive to motion, or rather she was more aware of it, sometimes overreacting, sometimes just noticing something that she would've subconsciously ignored before.

Xander was the most changed as, after testing it out, it was determined that he had Slayer-level senses now, able to hear things that were almost miles away, clearer vision, sharper reflexes, and night vision that could not be beat. He also claimed that his sense of smell was sharper, a _lot_ sharper. Not dog or wolfhound sharp, but still close to superhuman levels of olfactory sense.

Willow claimed not to have noticed any significant changes... at first. The day after though, she claimed she was going deaf, when it was the opposite. Her hearing was beyond superhuman, able to hear the softest whisper of a flies legs that was on the other side of a building like it was an electric violin on max volume and her head was right next to the speakers. She was also a much better swimmer than she'd been before. By much better, they soon discovered she meant Olympic-level. The last change that they could really detect was that Willow could hold her breath for a really long time now, and take even deeper lungfuls.

Jason explained to them that these 'side-effects' were normal, to be expected even, after communing with their Animal Spirit Guides. "How do you think a normal 16-year-old boy could keep up with the Slayer, even with Chi-Armor, without a little boost from my own Animal Spirit Guide?" he'd asked them when they'd talked.

So now, here they all were, in the old quarry just outside Sunnydale city limits, right on the edge of the desert, doing some 'extra training' as Jason called it. Thanks to the high walls from the pit dug from the mining however many dozens of years ago was more than high enough to prevent anyone from seeing their superhuman feats, unless they were right on the edge of the quarry.

"Hey Buff!" Xander called as he leapt down from the high wall of the stone pit, landing easily like he'd just stepped off some high stairs. "Wanna test out my mad new skills? I'm serious here though, cause I want to be there right beside you and Jason on patrols, and that means learning to fight, right?"

Frowning, Buffy hesitated for only a second before shrugging to herself and nodding back at Xander, saying, "Sure, let's go."

With that, the both of them powered up as much as they possibly could, the distortions around their bodies becoming more intense. Then, at the right moment, they charged towards each other!

Willow and Cordelia stopped their own spar, which to be perfectly honest was little more than a game of tag, and turned to stare at their friends charging towards one another like that. Quickly, the two girls raced over to Jason's position, who was watching from a level higher than the floor of the quarry. The redhead and brunette tried to speak, but they were drawn to the violence unfolding below them.

Xander and Buffy bodily collided with one another, their fists flying into the other's face almost as an afterthought. Instead of blowing back from one another, or even actually hitting, there was an almost static discharge at the point where their solid-energy armors met, putting them only a few inches away from each other, but with no actual contact between their bodies.

Buffy was genuinely surprised, Xander was holding his own against her. Of course mystical super strength doesn't really come into play when both sides of the fight have near-equal level forcefields surrounding and supporting their bodies. Key phrase there was _near_-equal.

Pushing herself just that little bit extra, Buffy put her left foot forward and shoved more 'upwards' than just 'forward' while throwing a powerful punch with her other hand at the same time. Xander was caught flatfooted by this maneuver, so when the punch landed, he was sent flying up and away from the shorter blond.

"Hey!" he cried out mid-air. "Not fair! That's cheating!"

"There's no cheating in a fight, Xander!" Buffy and Jason both chastised the teen together.

"Oh yeah? Well, how about this!" Xander screamed as his 'aura' flared just before he would have crashed into the ground, and instantly he was right-side-up with his feet on the ground. Around his body, instead of a massive air-distortion, there was now a nebulous white-gray aura surrounding his body. It wasn't Chi-Armor, the best description in fact might be ghost armor.

"Was wondering when you were going to stop holding back on me, Xan," Buffy chuckled, right before settling her stance, calming her breathing, and 'pushing' as much of her energy as was possible for her at the moment, into her solid-energy armor. The distortions around her body became more intense until suddenly she had a 'ghost armor aura' too. Best guess, the both of them had pushed their power to sixty percent or thereabouts.

Rushing forward once more, the two decided to make things more interesting than just slamming into each other repeatedly, knowing the result each time. So, Buffy jumped up into the air at an amazing height and incredible speed. At the height of her arch, she clenched her fist and aimed for where Xander was going to be in just a few steps, her fall adding to the punches power.

Xander caught on what she was going to do at the last instant, given that she'd only jumped in the air about one second ago, and reacted before his brain really had time to catch up. Dodging to the side, he could only watch as Buffy landed her fist into the spot where he was only a heartbeat before. The armor-coated Slayer's fist slammed into the rocky ground and did not just break it, it cracked the stone apart and made an actual crater around the fist, while slabs of rock were uprooted and sent flying, a few in Xander's direction too.

"Whoa," Xander grunted, before dodging again. Instead of just watching and waiting for Buffy's next move though, he noticed a rather big boulder-like rock sitting not too far away. He quickly raced over to it, picked it up like it was made of cardboard, and threw it as hard as he could at the Slayer.

Buffy got up and saw the boulder flying right at her. Her eyes widened perceptibly, but she kept calm, adjusted her stance so she was fully balanced, then she took a running leap at the flying boulder, fist cocked back to strike it. Two weeks ago, she wouldn't even consider doing something like this, in fact best she might have done was to dodge it and let it pass. But things were different now. Now, she had a little something extra.

She hit the boulder dead on, her Slayer Instincts letting her see the 'sweet spot' on the rock, and thanks to her solid-energy armor, she had more than enough power to penetrate it. The boulder shattered into a million pieces, some of the shards even flying back the way the rock came from. Through the rain of stone, however, Buffy caught sight of Xander just standing there, seemingly right behind the rock he'd thrown at her. What really caught her attention was that he spun around in a roundhouse kick as fast as any she could've done, his foot slamming against the side of her head and sending her careening into the stone wall of the quarry.

Fortunately, she managed to get a hold of her senses in time and managed to adjust her flight so her feet landed against the wall, which she then bounced off of, aiming straight for Xander. He saw her coming and dodged out of the way.

Buffy landed a little roughly, skidding along the ground, then having to face Xander's renewed assault the moment she got her footing. She gave as good as she got, blocking and attacking back, but their ghost-armors stopped all physical blows from landing, and unless it was a blow with the strength to send the other flying, there was no real sign of any damage or injury. They might as well have been a couple of kids dressed up in full body snowsuits play-fighting.

Buffy, feeling the frustration from this, sought some means of cementing her victory for this fight, but her past experiences with fighting depended on being able to judge which of the fighters was actually capable of continuing. With their ghost-armor, there were no bruises, neither one of them felt any real pain, and every one of them could maintain solid-energy for upwards of an hour before feeling any strain whatsoever. It was impossible!

So, seeing that her experience and Slayer instincts weren't of much help, Buffy opened herself to any other possibilities, and one immediately presented itself.

_I was waiting for you to open yourself to my advice. All you have to do is ask, and I will do all that I can_.

The voice was her mother's, but Buffy immediately recognized it for what it meant. Her Animal Spirit Guide, the Lioness was speaking to her, and offering her the help and knowledge that she needed. Smiling, she gratefully accepted what was offered and applied it immediately.

Taking a deep breath, she kept her body energy going converting to solid-energy, and then focused her mind on her Chi-Armor the way Lioness showed her, thereby starting the process of converting her mental energy to solid-energy. In the first few seconds, Buffy's ghost-armor flashed and seemed to become more solid, appearing more like grayish-white transparent plastic than a mist filled armor form, which is still how Xander's looked. Apparently his Animal Spirit Guide wasn't talking, or he still wasn't listening. Whichever it was, Buffy suddenly had the advantage in the fight.

"What the . . . !" Xander yelled as Buffy ran right at him and covered the distance in the blink of an eye. Startled, he could only defend and try and retreat.

"Sorry Xan, I win!" Buffy happily announced as she got in under his guard and lashed out with an uppercut that sent him flying over the top of the quarry.

Smiling, Buffy jumped and was suddenly about ten feet above Xander, inverted with one leg cocked back. Their eyes met for one second, when Buffy winked at him, Xander knew this was going to hurt, armor or no armor.

Faster than they eye could track, Buffy kicked him in the torso and sent the dark haired teen careening back to the Earth at roughly twice the speed he would have with three times the energy, as the crater from where he'd landed could testify. He did not get back up, and Buffy easily landed on her feet beside the crater like she'd only hopped up and down once.

"Nice," Jason commented with a slight smile.

"Nice?!" Willow screamed. "Nice! They're trying to kill each other!"

"They're sparring," Jason countered. "You've seen me and Buffy do that often in the Library. Same thing, only this just looks a bit more intense because it's your two best friends... and they're using 60 to 75 percent Chi-Armor, and that makes anything you've seen look like a magician's parlor tricks. After 50 percent, you're pretty much devoting everything the body has to creating a localized solid-energy field that negates nearly all outside forces from affecting it."

"But, then that means . . ." Willow trailed off and her eyes widened as she worked it out.

"What?" Cordelia asked, confused.

"It means," Jason answered her, "that the muscles, lungs, heart, even the brain and all your nerves start working at closer and closer to their full capacity. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or where to are on this planet, every single living creature, and a lot of dead creatures too, are being affected by phenomenal and literally cosmic forces every single instant of every single second of every single day since before they even existed in the first place. The human body is an impressive feat of biology and physiology. The human brain has the most neural connectors of every living organism on the planet. The human lungs are capable of taking in enormous amounts of air and converting it to pure oxygen and filter out carbon dioxide and all manner of other gases. And then there are the muscles, the heart, and so on and so forth. With Chi-Armor, all outside forces are completely blocked and removed from affecting the body. Well . . . not _all_ forces, but enough that there's a very noticed superhuman ability displayed by those that can use Chi-Armor."

"I'll say," said Cordelia.

Back down in the pit, Buffy was standing over a stunned Xander, who couldn't really tell what had just happened. All he knew was that he'd been sent flying then felt a great deal of force come down on his torso and more than a bit of pain when he landed in his impression of a meteorite by creating a crater at the bottom of the quarry.

"Ow," he finally had enough energy to speak.

"Need a hand?" Buffy teasingly offered.

"Not... just... yet..." he whispered, either through pain or lack of energy was hard to say.

Slowly, like watching a turtle try to roll itself off of it's back, Xander worked his way out of the crater and back onto his feet. That it took about five minutes was all anybody needed to know that the fight was pretty much over.

"You know, I think it might be easier if you drop the solid-energy armor, Xan," Buffy suggested.

"Not... done... yet..." he gasped, swaying on his feet.

"Yeah, you are," she stated, before vanishing from where she stood and reappeared behind him in the blink of an eye, and side-kicked him in the small of his back, sending him flying towards the stone walls of the quarry.

He was about ten feet from hitting when all of a sudden, all trace of his solid-energy being active vanished, the ghost-armor disappearing, and he was _still_ flying at the same speed towards the wall of the quarry.

Buffy's eyes went wide in horror and she was moving before she was consciously aware of what was about to happen. '_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT, _SHIT, SHIT!!' she mentally berated herself, even as she now moved so fast that Xander appeared frozen in mid-air while she ran to catch him before he hit the wall, probably to die upon impact.

'_Lioness! What do I do? I may not be the genius Wills is, but even _I_ know that if I catch Xander while he's still going full speed that _I'm_ going to replace that stone wall and he's still going to die here! Stupid!_'

_Now is not the time for recriminations, Buffy,_ the Lioness spirit warned her. _ For now, merely get yourself into position and prepare to skid back a few feet. I will take care of the rest. Trust me._

'_OK, I do trust you. This had better work . . ._' she thought back, even as she positioned herself right in front of Xander and prepared to catch him. He fell into her arms in the next heartbeat and she felt the nigh-overwhelming force that had sent him flying in the first place. Instead of stopping in her tracks, she allowed herself to skid back, her feet kicking up gravel as her own body absorbed the energy from Xander's impromptu flight.

At the same time, she felt . . . something leave her armor and it helped to further cushion Xander's prone body in her arms until finally she was holding him steady in her arms, her back just over a foot from the stone wall.

"Whew," she let out the breath she'd been holding and adjusted her hold on Xander's unconscious body for a more comfortable position.

"You know, you could have just conked him one on the back of the head," Jason commented from the 'level' above her, looking down from the edge of stone wall. Obviously, he had just been about to intervene himself, but he had also given Buffy her chance to correct her own mistake, which she had.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she grumbled. "Would you mind helping me out here? I know, Slayer and all, but this is going to be awkward when he wakes up."

Jason just chuckled as he jumped down and helped Buffy carry Xander back up to the quarry exit. Training was done for the day.

_Monday_

_Sunnydale High_

_After School_

"You are an absolute idiot," Cordelia berated her secret boyfriend between kisses, "you know that right? I don't know why I... mmhmm! .... put up with you!"

"Maybe... because of... this?" Xander then did that thing with his tongue.

Cordelia melted like jelly in his arms, moaning and squealing with sexual pleasure.

"Oh yeah... that..." she said breathlessly after he took a brief break.

"Yeah, that," he chuckled from his current position.

"Tell you what," she dragged him up by his collar, "you do that more often, and I'll do something that you'll never forget."

"By all means then," Xander immediately fell to his knees before her and made to do exactly what she'd asked of him with no hesitation.

"Hold on mister," she pulled him back up.

"We have to get to the Library for training with Jason. As much as I'd love to stay here and finish this... whatever this is... I don't want to fall behind the others either," she told him.

"Cordy..." Xander started to complain, when his brain caught up with his mouth before he made a very stupid mistake. "Uh... yeah, you're right. Uh, let me just check if it's clear real quick."

He moved to the door and cracked it open a bit before sticking his head out into the hallway. At the moment, there was hardly anyone in the school, even the janitors were finishing up, and thankfully there was no one in the specific hall where their little love next was situated.

"OK, coast is clear," he pulled his head back in to tell his kind-of-but-not-really-girlfriend.

"Good. Do I look OK?" she asked him, straightening her clothes a bit.

He smirked and before he could say what was on his mind, she slapped the back of his head and snapped at him, "Not like that, doofus. I mean are my clothes straight, make-up good, is my hair mussed up at all?"

He shook his head and smiled at her, "You look fine Cor. Now, let's go before we're missed."

"Yeah, let's hurry," she said with sudden urgency.

They both quickly and quietly slipped out into the hall and turned towards the Library, but stopped dead when they saw the very last person that either one of them wanted to see. Willow was standing there in the middle of the hallway, apparently having just come from the Library only moments before, but it was in those moments that she witnessed Xander and Cordelia exiting the janitor's closet, looking like they'd spent the past hour making out, despite Cordelia's efforts to minimize that appearance.

"Willow, I can explain," Xander started to say before he really thought things out.

"Doofus, that's one thing you _never_ say to a woman!" Cordelia snapped, slapping him on the back of the head.

"You... you... you, and _you_...?!" the distraught redhead was stuttering, drawing the other teens attention back to her. "How-how could you... with _her_!!"

"Hey!" Cordelia started to protest, but something in Willow's eyes, and a voice in the back of her head, warned her that this was not the time.

"Willow, it's not what you think," Xander tried once more.

"I just saw you stepping out of the janitor's closet with _Cordelia Chase_, both of you looking like you've spent the last hour making out!" Willow screamed at him. "I'd say it's pretty clear that it's _exactly_ what I think!"

"Willow, you OK?" a voice called from down the hall.

Behind Willow, Xander and Cordelia saw Buffy and Jason rush out of the Library hallway, looking worried. Obviously they had heard Willow shouting and thought that something was wrong, and so had come to check on her.

"No, I'm not," Willow's face turned downcast, whispering rather than shouting that in many ways was much worse. Worried, they all stepped closer to their friend.

"Willow, what's wrong? And where have you two been?" Buffy asked Xander and Cordelia.

"Uh..." Xander was at a loss.

"None of your business," Cordelia fell back on old instincts, also at a complete loss.

Unfortunately, that was the wrong thing to do, as the old familiar tone and even the words triggered something in the psyche of a young girl whose heart was breaking before their eyes. Willow's vivid green eyes snapped up and glared pure hatred at the tormentor of childhood. For only a moment, they flashed to a bluish sea green color before returning to their normal shade.

Jason, on the other hand, felt that whatever had just happened was not over, in fact it was just beginning. "Guys," he warned, pulling Buffy back from Willow and warning the other two to do the same, "step back for a minute. Something is... not right..."

The warning became moot as they couldn't miss the waves of Chi-Armor that began to pour out of Willow's body, but more than that after a second the waves that normally looked like heat coming off the cement on a hot summer day changed to a bluish-green-gold color that looked more like the reflection of sunlight on the oceans waves. Willow's eyes flashed with the same energy, enough that her pupils were covered by the glow and all they saw was the sea-green light blazing from her eyes.

"I... I won't forgive you for this," Willow rasped, sounding on the verge hysterics. "I'm not the same weak little nobody anymore! I will not let you trample all over my life and make me give up like before. _I'm going to make you __**pay, YOU BITCH!! **__**TSUNAMI**_**!**"

Willow reeled back her right fist and then slammed it into the ground at her feet. Instead of being just a small temper tantrum or demonstration of potential violence that this action normally had, the moment the Willow's fist touched the ground, a literal fountain of water poured forth. It didn't stop there, unfortunately as that was just the first spurt and within seconds enough water to flood _all_ of the halls of the school to the ceilings poured out and all of it slammed forward in a torrential wave towards Cordelia and the unfortunate Xander.

"Oh sh—!" Xander started to curse, but he and Cordelia were swept off their feet and carried a good portion down the hallway.

The really impressive thing, however, was that Willow herself and both Buffy and Jason standing behind her were completely dry, not even getting splashed with leftover droplets. Buffy was at a complete loss of what to do, she didn't even understand what was going on, and she was too stunned to bother asking Lioness about it either.

Jason, on the other hand, could see things were quickly spiraling out of control, and before either of the girls could realize it, he moved forward and grabbed Willow by the neck and hit a few quick pressure points with sufficient force to knock out a determined Army Ranger. The water instantly stopped pouring out, though it didn't instantly vanish, proving that it wasn't some kind of illusion but the real thing, and Willow crumpled into Jason's arms, who immediately picked her up.

"Come on," he said, turning with the unconscious redhead in hand, "Grab Xander and Cordelia, I'll be in the Library. I didn't think I'd have to talk about this so soon, but I guess I have some explaining to do. Better from all of you together than having to repeat myself," he added when Buffy looked like she might argue.

"Right," she said, trying to wrap her head around what she'd just witnessed. "Uh, I'll get the others. Uh, right." She walked briskly down the wet, but quickly drying hallway, Jason just as quickly carrying Willow to the Library.

_Abandoned Warehouse_

_Omega Order's New Local Headquarters_

_Just After Sunset_

The Judge and almost all of his vampires had been killed weeks ago by now. Unfortunate for the world, Spike, Drusilla, and another ten or so of Omega's uniformed vampires were not there when the blue demon and his minions had met their fate. So when the Judge was killed by a young boy that could summon up magic lightning armor, the Omega minions immediately turned around and contacted their organization to inform them of this tragedy and for further instruction.

They had been told to wait, and to keep Spike and Drusilla alive, metaphorically speaking, and heal their wounds to get them at maximum strength. And so, using blood bank supplies and Willie the Snitch for blood, the Omega minions and Spike and Drusilla had been sitting around their warehouse hideout for the past three weeks. Lately, more often than not, Spike would try and strong arm his way past them so he could hunt or just plain go out and have a smoke. Every single time, Spike got his ass handed to him as the vampires used combinations of martial arts, weapons, and something they claimed to be 'Demonic Energy' to put him down until he tried again.

After the first few times, Spike stopped seeing them as minions he had to get past, but as opponents for him to burn his excess energy off of. The one time, which happened to be only the night before, that he managed to get a good enough hit on one of them to knock them to the ground, rather than race past to the outside, he just stepped back and waited for the other vampire to get back to his feet before they continued the spar. Even if the blows were powerful enough to outright kill a normal person in one hit, they were vampires and so long as their heads weren't cut off, or got any splinters in their chest cavity, then no matter how much damage was done, it was just sparring.

Seeing the sun set, Spike started to stretch out a little, looking forward to another night of good fighting with the boys here, when the one radio the Omega minions had brought with them crackled to life. All of said minions immediately sprung to full attention. Rather than a voice, however, a series of beeps, static, and computer noise came over the speakers, which all of the minions seemed to understand as though it were a voice.

"Congratulations," the chief minion said to Spike after the radio turned itself off, "You've gotten a chance that most have to wait five hundred years for. You two are now officially a part of the Omega Order. You're being sent to our training facility, tonight."

"Oh really," Spike drawled, never one that liked being told what to do, "and what about the Slayer, hm? I thought you guys were big on this whole revenge kick, and now your leaving town, taking us along with you? Did the big bad lightning boy scare you pricks away?"

"The Slayer," head lackey replied, "and the Chi-Armor user have drawn the attention of our organization. They only ever send out one demon to deal with... revenge in this case. The Executioner."

Spike blinked, then growled slightly. So much for bagging himself another Slayer.

But, then again, he'd seen what this Omega Order could do, and it might be interesting to see what else they had to offer before jumping ship, so to speak. He finally just shrugged and asked, "So, how we doin' this?"

_Sunnydale High_

_The Library_

"All right Jason," Buffy snapped the moment they were all gathered in the Library, "start talking. What is it that you're not telling us? And while we're at it, what _the hell_ just happened out there?!"

"Short answer, or the whole truth?" Jason uncomfortably replied.

"Start with the short answer, then explain," Buffy crossed her arms, glaring at him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Giles pulled off his glasses and began to rigorously clean them, "but what _exactly_ did happen just now?"

"Willow went psycho, that's what!" Cordelia helpfully explained.

They all stared at the brunette for half a second before Xander stepped in.

"Willow saw... Cordy and I in an easily misinterpreted set of circumstances, and she... reacted rather negatively," he slowly filled the adults in.

"'Negatively'?!" Cordelia near-screeched, holding her still-soaking hair, "She damn near _drowned me_!! And you too for that matter! Come to think of it, how did 'Little Miss Brighter Side of Sears®' flash-flood the hallways anyway?"

"Welcome to where the rest of us have been for the past five minutes, Cordy," Buffy sarcastically remarked with an equally fake smile. Snapping back around to their trainer, "Jason! Answers! Now!"

"All right, all right, sheesh!" he ran his fingers through his long wavy brown hair with a sigh.

"The short answer is quite simply that Willow is more advanced than the rest of you, for whatever reason, and when she became agitated her elemental powers surfaced," he explained.

"Excuse me!" Giles shouted.

"E-Elemental powers?" Ms. Calendar exclaimed.

"And you were going to tell us this, when?" Buffy growled.

Jason sighed again and decided to start over. "OK, here's the deal. Once you can summon Chi-Armor at will, aside from the physical side effects, which you guys are seeing with solid-energy already, being stronger, faster, and in some cases more agile, there are additional benefits of having Chi-Armor. Along with your Spirit Guide attributes, you can also manipulate or control certain elements, such as Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and even Lightning. Each individual is unique, even those with similar or the same element can have different powers."

"Some elements can have distinct advantages over others when they clash. For example, Water smothers Fire and can extinguish its effects. On the other hand Lightning is also a burning element, is Water's one and greatest weakness. It's mostly just a matter of combining academic smarts with good old fashioned common sense and warrior instinct."

"In Willow's case here," he gestured to the still unconscious redhead lying on the table, "as one would guess from her having the Dolphin as her Animal Spirit Guide, her element is Water. As I said, it works differently for everyone, but clearly one of her unique attributes is that she can manifest water out of thin air and control it. My element, if you guys hadn't already guessed, is Lightning, but I can only really display that when I'm fully powered up, 100 percent Chi-Armor."

"What about the rest of us?" Xander asked, concerned.

Jason shrugged. "No way to say for certain right now. Perhaps if you ask your Animal Spirit Guides, they could provide a clue for you. As well as the catalyst needed for achieving 100 percent Chi-Armor. In the meantime, I think it's safer for everyone if everybody does individual training today. I'll stay with Willow, try and help her to understand what happened to her today, and clearly she does not want to see the two of you right now." He added to the two dripping teens.

"I'll stay too," Buffy started to say.

"No, that's alright," Jason stalled her, "Besides, you've got homework to do and this is going to take the rest of day. You've also got patrol later on tonight then your own training and meditation, and unless you're finally ready to tell your mother the whole truth, you've also got to get home."

Buffy sighed and nodded.

"Fine," she grunted, brushing her blond locks out of her face. "If you need anything thought..."

"Mr. Giles and Ms. Calendar are right here," Jason smiled, his one visible eye twinkling.

"Remind me again why I put up with you?" she practically snarled and stormed out of the Library. Xander and Cordelia quickly followed after, most likely heading for the school showers to clean up first. Separate showers.

"Now," Giles stepped forward, "what exactly happened?"

Jason almost laughed, but settled for sighing once more.

"So, where is this... _Executioner_ bloke," Spike grumbled.

They were all waiting outside, away from the street. It was an open area where nothing but a few broken wooden boxes and crates were stacked up against the sides of the warehouses, which surrounded the area on all sides, boxing it in. There weren't even any sewer entrances, just drainage pipes right next to the buildings, so Spike saw no reason for them to even be here waiting like this.

"Patience," chief minion said to him. "Try asking your seer girlfriend there. She should feel him coming when he arrives."

Spike growled, shifting to his game face for a moment, then reverting as he glanced to see Drusilla staring off into space. Wait, no, she was staring off in a specific direction. East, but not just the direction, her face was tilted up and her eyes were tracking something up in the sky. When his superior vampiric hearing detected the sounds of a helicopter, it all suddenly made sense.

"Bloody hell," Spike cursed as the black military helicopter came overhead and hovered itself down to rooftop level. Despite there being plenty of room for it in the open area, it did not land, just remained hovering like that until one of its side-panel hatches slid open. Four at a time, two from each side of the chopper, dropped down on cable lines and it wasn't until over a dozen of them were on the ground that Spike realized they were more of these Omega Order Vampires, but clearly under a different boss as they wore all black with the same symbol instead of brown and blue.

Finally, one last figure jumped down, without the cable line, the ground shaking with a small tremor at his impact despite looking like he'd only jumped the last step of a staircase. The moment it was on the ground, the helicopter immediately flew off like a specter in the night.

Spike cursed even louder when he saw a virtual twin of the Judge's face come walking up, except maybe where Judge had looked like a middle-aged demon, this one looked like a recently-matured demon (difference of early 40's and mid 20's). To make matters even worse though, this one was wearing some kind of weird all-black armor that uncomfortably reminded Spike of that single glimpse Spike had gotten of that white-armored arsehole that had blown up the Judge.

"You must be the Executioner," Spike drawled as the demon came up to him and Drusilla. "Judge, Executioner... I'm starting to detect a trend here."

"The Judge owed us a favor," the blue-headed, black-armored demon replied. "And he was under our protection. He was here to negotiate with the local Wolfram & Hart office in LA. His negotiations were complete, so his time eradicating your brood and hunting this... Slayer were matters of his own. But we weren't through with him yet, so it's merely a matter of pride that this Slayer, and those she works for be... educated about our Order."

Spike nodded, understanding the logic.

"I can see why he spared you two though," the Executioner continued. "The both of you have a very rare potential, the insane seer moreso, but you are not lacking in the slightest."

"Yeah, well..." Spike started to snap back, except he wasn't really sure if he was being insulted, complemented, or explained something. "Thanks?"

"Tomorrow evening I will begin my hunt for this Slayer and summarily _execute_ her for stepping on the toes of the Omega Order. Then I will turn my attention to the true target, the Chi-Warrior. Before I leave, however, you and your... mate will be taken to our new training facility in the mountains. Stay there until they tell you that you are allowed to leave, or else you will never return. As I said, you have potential, but right now, that is all that it is. We shall see if we can turn that potential in to something useful."

"Uh, right then," Spike agreed, knowing that he had no other choice.

"But that is for tomorrow," the Executioner grinned, showing his fangs, "For now, let us prepare for our hunt. You have fought this Slayer before?"

Spike rolled his eyes in exasperation. First the Judge, now this bloke.

"Yeah, and I've been through the whole Q&A thing already. Your minions here have heard me spout off about her about a hundred times now, so they can tell you everything that I already know. Except that it seems she's been learning whatever it is that glowing-armor-bloke's can do, because her fight with the last guy, the Judge, I saw her do stuff that was damn right impossible for _anyone_, and she couldn't do a bit of it beforehand."

"Has she manifested?" the Executioner asked of the chief minion.

"No sir," the vampire dutifully answered. "We've estimated that at the time of her engagement with the Judge she had achieved 50 percent solid-energy conversion. Given the time frame since then, we estimate that unless she has reached catalyst, she should only be able to convert 70 to 80 percent at this time. Sir!"

"Interesting," the Executioner stroked his chin in thought.

"Also, sir," the vampire added, "It has been noted that besides the Slayer and the Chi-Warrior, there are three others that show a much higher energy rating and have been seen in the presence of both targets. It has been assumed that the Chi-Warrior is training these others in addition to the Slayer..." the vampire stopped there due to the fact that the Executioner had shot a bolt of red energy that quickly burned the undead creature to ash.

"Never assume, _know!_" the blue demon ordered to the remaining vampires.

Spike wisely decided to stay quiet, and Drusilla thankfully followed his example.

The Executioner seethed for several moments before calming himself and flexing his black-armored hand, sparks of red energy arcing between his fingers and the open air. "To answer the obvious, _vampire_, our Order is but one of several organizations that seek to promote the use of the power you have just witnessed. The training facility we are sending you to will teach you and your insane seer how to access and control this power within yourselves, as I sense that you have the potential to become quite powerful."

"Oh really," Spike was suddenly intrigued.

"Yes," the demon nodded, "and it is rare enough to find those with the potential to control such power, let alone finding two such as yourselves that have possibility of becoming quite... powerful. Save your further questions for those that will train you. Because as rare as you two are... I really only need one of you to go to the training facility to receive the credit for finding you. Just because we want you, does not mean that we need you. Understand?"

The vampire master couldn't help gulping in appreciation of the threat he'd just been handed, particularly since it was more than obvious that the Executioner was stronger than the Judge could've ever hoped to be. "Perfectly," Spike's voice squeaked a little as he nodded his understanding.

"Excellent," the blue demon was suddenly all smiles. Turning to the minions, it ordered, "Prepare them for the journey and separate a contingent for their escort. Also... go recruiting. I have a feeling that we'll need some fodder for our hunt tomorrow night."

"At once, Executioner," the new chief minion snapped to attention and made it happen.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the Executioner snapped at Spike and Drusilla.

They immediately turned and followed the new head toady and said nothing.

The Executioner smirked to himself as he watched the two new 'recruits' scurry off and flexed his energy once more. Every since he'd mastered demonic energy and passed the threshold to create Demonic Chi-Armor, he'd been the Omega Order's Fist. With a simultaneous elimination of a Slayer and a Chi-Warrior as well as finding _two_ new potential recruits, he was due for a promotion.

Laughing evilly, the Executioner let out a pulse of demonic energy, mostly just for the hell of it, but also to let the cursed Chi-Warrior know who and what was now here. Less than two miles away, Jason looked up from Willow's unconscious body to the general direction of the warehouse district, a frown marring his face. After a second, he turned his full attention back to Willow.

_Next Day_

_Sunnydale High Library_

Buffy regarded her friend as she walked in alongside Xander with Cordelia cowering behind them. Willow had spent most of the evening in the Library, first unconscious, then speaking with Jason before going home just to come right back at the crack of dawn.

"How are you doing, Will?" she asked carefully.

"I'm... coping," the normally vibrant redhead took some time to reply. "Jason explained what he thinks happened, and... I can hear Dolphin in my head now." The way she quietly added that made Buffy think that her friend was afraid she'd think her crazy.

Buffy smiled and nodded, then openly admitted, "I've been communicating with Lioness ever since that fight with Xander in the quarry. She has lots of advice, some of it pretty good. Still feels like I've got my mother in my head though."

"Yeah," Willow nodded, smiling now, "Dolphin's chosen to sound like my dad. Doesn't exactly help with the not-creeping-out, what with privacy issues and all."

Buffy shrugged, "Lioness isn't so bad with me. She, at least, knows when to but out, unlike my mother. Plus we talk about other stuff sometimes too, besides just Chi-Armor and slaying and all that. They're good listeners, and it's so much better than just talking to yourself."

"Yeah," Willow agreed.

Xander and Cordelia stared at the two of them like they were going crazy and they were two minutes away from being hauled off in straight jackets.

"Uh, what the heck are you guys talking about?!" Xander blurted out.

"Yeah, and how come Raven hasn't talked to me since the bridge!" Cordelia whined.

Xander blinked and took a step back from the girl he'd been making out with for the past few months, now looking at her the same way he'd been looking at Buffy and Willow a second ago.

Buffy shrugged at Cordelia's question before her eyes glazed over slightly, like she was listening to someone she could not see, before focusing back on Cordelia and replied, "Your need hasn't been great enough yet. You have to approach the spirit, not the other way around. We have to open ourselves up to the possibilities of the unbelievable. At least that's what Lioness says. Me, I was just willing to try anything to beat Xander the other day. Willow..." she trailed off as her eyes glazed over again, apparently listening to her Animal Spirit Guide at the moment.

"Uh..." she finally said, "Willow was under a... great deal of stress and gave the mental equivalent of screaming out in pain. It was enough for Dolphin to establish the connection as her need overrode the rules of keeping our minds open to the unbelievable. Lioness also says that it's why her element showed up first, as Dolphin triggered it as a defensive measure as he couldn't be sure what situation Willow was in when she cried out. All of our spirits, by the way, advise that we don't try recreating that stress as it can be..." she frowned and seemed to be arguing with herself, or rather with Lioness all of a sudden. "OK, OK, I got it! It can be dangerous. And don't look at me like that, I already asked how it could be dangerous, she's not telling."

"Because the results are unpredictable," Jason answered for her as he walked in.

"It's one thing if you really are in a life or death situation," he continued, "but Willow almost killed Xander and Cordelia yesterday because of a misunderstanding and an overreaction. And it won't always be your elements developing early. Sometimes it could be the Chi-Armor manifesting itself, sometimes it could just be a single piece of the armor, which can have lasting consequences. Sometimes it's something else entirely. So, until you're ready and can reach 100 percent on your own, _don't_ try it!"

"Got it," Xander nodded. "Now back to the hearing our Animal Spirit Guides part?"

"You haven't tried to speak to Hyena since the meditation, have you Xander?" Jason asked.

"Uh, no," the black haired teen stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Shame," Jason said back, "she could really help you out in gaining Chi-Armor that much faster. Or potentially, at all."

"Yeah, well, I'm not shutting the hairy storm chaser out, I'm just not begging for help any time soon," he said with finality.

"Storm chaser?" Jason questioned, a curious expression on his face.

"Well, class is starting soon, I just wanted to check on you Wills," Buffy hugged her friend and then grabbed her books and was on her way out the door. "See you guys later. Oh, and Mom wants me to do some errands later this afternoon, so I'm going to miss meditation training, but I'll make up for it by stopping by before patrol."

"Actually," Jason moved quickly to stop her, "we'll be going to the quarry again, at least until sundown. After your done, feel free to go ahead and go on patrol, we'll all probably run into one another at some point."

"Oh, OK, cool," Buffy smiled and hurried onto class, the other teens quickly following her example as the bell was only a few minutes from ringing.

Later on, after sunset, Buffy was walking along her patrol route, swinging past the same empty lot where she'd fought the Judge several weeks past on a whim. She'd already caught a couple newbie vamps trying to 'seduce' their first meals at the Bronze and summarily dusted them without problem. She'd learned by now how to only partially summon her incomplete ghostly Chi-Armor, allowing her to more easily dust them by shoving her armored arm through their chests rather than waste good wooden stakes. Thanks to Lioness, she was learning lots of little tricks like that.

Except, that was just it, they were only tricks. Little things like focusing her enhanced senses that somehow let her see and hear better for as long as she kept her concentration, the partial conversion of her life energy into solid energy, and ways of shortening the amount of time it took her to do the conversion in the first place. On her own, she'd probably still be meditating for several long seconds before the armor would form, now it was as simple as moving her own body to activate the partial armor, and just as instinctive.

The real prize, however, she was not getting any closer to. True, 100 percent Chi-Armor was practically as far away now as it was before she'd ever met Jason Everheart. And Lioness's little hints and small tricks were not helping in bringing her nearer to her goal.

Her Animal Spirit Guide counseled patience and caution. That the Lioness chose to sound like her mother made such advice all the more tedious to the normally impatient Slayer.

So, after helping her real mom in running some errands at the mall, she went out on patrol, hoping to burn off some of her frustration. It really was coincidence that this nights patrol path took her near the place where she'd faced the Judge and witnessed what Chi-Armor could really do. At first she just thought of it as nerves, because she was near this place, but as she moved through the various alleyways amongst the warehouses, she knew with little doubt that she was being watched.

She almost stopped to call her silent observers out, but Lioness advised caution, without saying the words that is. She paused for a few steps as she passed the alleyway that would take her to the same empty lot, then quickly moved past it, feeling the presence of something much more powerful than what she was used to facing on patrol. Lioness agreed and silently urged her to find Jason and the others. Sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the moment she started to hurry along back towards the High School, the same Omega-uniform vamps started to pop out of the proverbial woodwork, and Buffy felt that near-overwhelming presence move in closer.

"... Just great," the blond Slayer muttered to herself as she waited until the last second before activating her solid-energy armor to 20 percent, enough to dust the vamps with ease, but with no sign of the ghost-armor or any clue as to what she was really doing.

That presence she felt, undoubtedly the new boss that had showed up after Jason had taken out the Judge, was almost on top of them, and she knew she didn't have enough time. Using her enhanced speed that she possessed when using solid-energy, she rapidly closed the distance between her and the nearest group of uniformed vampires. They didn't know what hit them.

The first group were all decapitated with a single swipe from the edge of her arm. The next three after that were likewise decapitated, one after the other. After that, she started shooting back and forth, punching her hand through their chests, her fingers and palm flat. The dust was only beginning to settle from those first vampires when Buffy realized there were no more vampires for her to destroy.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, she leapt as high and as far as she could _away_ from that overbearing presence. Unfortunately, whatever she was feeling seemed aware of her suddenly flight and before she'd even landed from her first leap, it was upon her.

In fact, it was standing there waiting for her when she landed, with another fifty plus vampires to back it up. 'It' in this case was a demon of the same species and physical features as the Judge was. Except this one was much, much more powerful, and wasn't wearing medieval style leather armor. The armor that it was wearing, however, scared the crap out of Buffy much more than anything else did at the moment. It was form-fitting black _energy_ armor. Chi-energy.

Buffy gulped and practically screamed for Lioness to get her furry butt out of the grass and help her _NOW_! The Animal Spirit Guide was whispering in the back of her mind before her call had even finished echoing in her own head, offering words of comfort, support and calming her down enough that the terror faded and allowed her to think.

"Well, well, well," the demon was saying as the Slayer was briefly overwhelmed by her panic. "You must be that pretty little Slayer that my cousin found so interesting that he disobeyed orders from the Omega Council itself. Hard to believe that someone like you could give the old bastard a scratch, let along injure him enough that he was incapacitated for a full month. Then again, as punishment for disobeying their orders, the Council did forbid him from healing himself through consumption of humanity. That was his schtick, you see."

"So who, or _what_ are you?" Buffy snapped at the demon, once she'd regained her composure.

"I am the Executioner," the blue-headed demon bowed mockingly. "Fist of the Omega Order."

"Let me guess, the Judge's replacement?" she snarled, doing her best to power her chi-energy as much as she could while keeping him talking.

"Please," the Executioner scoffed, surprising the Slayer a bit. "We have no interest whatsoever in the Hellmouth or the little burg Wilkins built on top of it. The only interest I have in you is simply to learn who it was that finally killed the Judge. Then kill you to draw that person out so I may kill him. It's kind of what I do, you see. Goes with the title. I kill lots of things."

"How do you know I didn't kill him? I did, after all, injure him so badly that no extra healing or not, put him down for a month," she smartly replied.

"I don't think so," the Executioner laughed, stepping forward, inviting Buffy to take a step back. She still wasn't powered up enough that she could match this guy. Not yet, but Lioness was helping as much as the Spirit Guide could and she was getting pretty close, she could feel it.

"Yes, you are surprisingly gifted for a Slayer, and undoubtedly very skilled," he mocked her, taking another step forward as she stepped back, getting dangerously close to the ring of vampires surrounding them. "But don't make laugh. While skilled, and possessing a surprising amount of power for one such as yourself, you do not have even a tenth of the power needed to vaporize a being of the Judge's power. Kill him, yes, possibly anyway. But our reports confirmed that the Judge was _vaporized_. Only one type of warrior could do that, and you're not there yet, Slayer."

He took another step forward, but this time she could not retreat, at least not without bumping into the vampires behind her, and she did not wish to invite opportunities for them to grab onto her.

"Tell me," the demon growled at her, "where is the Chi-Warrior that defeated the Judge? What is his name, and what organization does he answer to? Tell me this, and I promise your death will be, relatively, painless. I'll also be willing to swear to leave everyone else in this little hamlet alive, but for that Warrior of course. This is, of course, only a one-time offer that expires if you say anything but the information I require."

She did say something to him, but obviously not what he'd asked for. It was also a word her mother would have been shocked and pissed to hear come from her mouth at all. Lioness, on the other hand, was quite impressed.

"My, such colorful language from one so young," the Executioner mocked. "Oh well, times up. Now we do this the hard, but still fun, way. Wear her down for me please." The vampires all surged forward at once.

"Shit," Buffy cursed, eyes darting back and forth all over the battleground.

'_Lioness, now would be a really REALLY good time for some of that expert advice of yours!_'

_Keep fighting. Follow your instincts. I will help where I can, but you should also conserve as much energy as you can against the jackals here. You will need all of your power to face against the demon, so be ready for it!_

'_Gee, thanks,_' Buffy mentally sighed, even as her body remained extremely aware of everything going on around her.

After that, there was no more time for private conversations. The vampires, while much slower and unable to really hurt her in any way, were very good at swarming and that made it difficult to land a 'dust' shot with every punch. Finally, she just resorted to ripping their arms, legs and heads off when she could, the rest of the time just punching them as hard as she could. Sometimes that sent them flying, but not every time unfortunately.

One lucky punch scattered the pile-up on her, giving her one, maybe three seconds of breathing room. It was just enough for her to finish dusting the lamed ones and then meet the next wave with accurate instant killing strokes. She even pulled out her stake and used it a couple times before having to toss it to take out one that was about to start throwing things long distance. She went back to her tactic of crippling them or literally dis_arming_ them, feeling the fatigue begin to creep up on her.

Using solid energy might make things easier and let her move faster and stronger than ever before, but as she had alluded to prior to this, using her energy in this way was like clenching a muscle, and the more she converted into solid energy, the harder she was clenching that muscle and the more strain that put on her mind and body.

'_So much for going around with an invincible forcefield on all the time,_' she thought to herself.

Finally, she began making enough of a dent that even with _all _of the remaining vampires trying to dogpile her, she had some breathing room and could start taking out the major threats. For the most part she ignored the crippled ones, and the ones she'd dis_armed_, well, they provided her with some new melee weapons that were interesting to use. Who knew vampire-arms made good clubs against other vampires?

Seeing that his forces were dwindling faster than he'd anticipated, the Executioner silently ordered a withdrawal. Seeing her opponents suddenly back off rather than continue the assault, she decided to prevent as many future encounters as she could and quickly dusted the injured or slow ones before they could be pulled back, leaving the Executioner with only fifteen to twenty minions that she could see. That didn't mean he didn't have a few stashed away at a hideout or just around the corner, but it was significantly less than what he'd started out with.

Buffy was breathing heavily and was sweating under her ghost-armor, feeling the desperate need to power down, sooner rather than later. Lioness, however, told her that would be a very, very _bad_ idea! He'd only hinted at it, not really shown it, but it was clear this Executioner had his own version of the Judge's ability to burn away Humanity, and she had no doubt that the moment she dropped her armor, even if it was only for a split-second, he would attack with a long-range energy blast that would probably kill her in that split-second.

To her relief, however, he did not immediately attack her, or send in another wave of the vampires, giving her a bit of time to rest even if she weren't able to relax, so to speak.

"Interesting," the demon mused. "You're very skilled, and surprisingly powerful. I did not expect this to take as long as it has. Still, without Chi-Armor, you have no hope of surviving."

'_He's not kidding,_' she admitted, panting heavily while trying to keep her strength up.

"Who said anything about surviving? I'm going to take you down, one way or another," she snarled at him.

The Executioner grinned sadistically, a macabre sight of the blue demon's maw that was uglier and more terrifying than most of the things Buffy usually saw at night on the Hellmouth. "I believe I will enjoy killing you," the demon cried out. She snorted and readied herself, ignoring his taunts.

"I've seen uglier, and scarier," was all she said.

The Executioner sniffed in disdain, and then he was moving. Buffy suspected that if she hadn't been using solid energy, it would have been like he'd vanished. Thankfully, she was _just_ fast enough that she could see it as the demon jumped high into the air and came down like a cannonball.

Buffy narrowly dodged to the side, then struck out a kick at the 'unprotected' head, only for the demon to grab her leg with his black-energy covered fist, grin at her again, then pick her up and throw her around a couple of times before tossing her into the side of a building. She couldn't help crying out as she impacted, the force rattling her even through her ghost armor.

'_LIONESS! Really, really, REALLY need that last step to getting Chi-Armor, like NOW!!_' she practically screamed inside her own head.

_It doesn't work like that—_

'_DON'T TELL ME THAT __**LOAD OF **__**CRAP**__**!!**_' she screamed in her head, even as she stood back to her feet, her stance unsteady and face a mask of pain and concentration. '_DO __**NOT**__ WASTE MY TIME WITH ALL THAT NEW AGE PSYCHO-BABBLE! Plain and simple; how the __**HELL**__ do I go from just solid energy to Chi-Armor?_'

_You have to give all of yourself. Nothing less. All of it. Even that which you have to live. Anything less and it would just be 100% solid energy. You must open yourself to the possibilities..._

"Enough," she rasped out loud.

"Oh no, we're just getting started," the Executioner taunted, coming closer.

"Wasn't... talking to you..." she gasped, then immediately surged forward, swinging her fists.

The Executioner scoffed again, easily dodging her first wild swing, but missed her real hit going into his gut! In fact, the dodge actually turned the demon into her punch so it had that much more impact, which turned out to be more than enough to knock the wind out of the demon and send it flying back to the middle of the road.

Buffy didn't let up there, charging forward with surprising strength, planning on continuing her attack. Unfortunately for her, the Executioner was made of sterner stuff so that her punch, while effective, didn't do any lasting damage.

"Not bad!" the blue-skinned demon screamed at her, surging back to its feet. "But not good enough! Without Chi-Armor, there is no way you have even a prayer of defeating me!"

He swung a fist, as fast as ever. Buffy pushed herself to above 90 percent, the ghost armor a solid grayish white form, one that 'ghosted' past the demon's attacks and slammed another hard-impact punch against it's torso. It was like a teenage girl hitting a stone pillar...

...Only for that pillar to suddenly cry out in pain and fall to its knees.

She did not hesitate in continuing her assault, leaping up in a roundhouse kick to the head, sending the Executioner skidding back along the road for a good fifteen feet. When the demon stood back up, a clear scrape was visible along the left side of it's face and an ugly purple bruise forming on the right side. Buffy smirked to herself in approval.

"Not bad, I think that's actually an improvement over your ugly mug. Let me help in making it even better looking," she taunted, pushing herself for all she was worth to squeeze just another percentage point from her life force into her solid energy armor. It seemed to be stuck at just above 90 percent!

"I am going to kill you," the Executioner growled, no longer teasing as it had been before. It got to its feet and charged with real intent this time. Buffy was already moving.

The two met in an all-out charge in the middle of the street, Buffy in her ghost armor going in low and hard, the Executioner in his black energy armor going high and wide. It was like a train wreck between two high-speed locomotives on the same track coming at each other.

The shockwaves from their impact shattered glass and rocked the foundations of the nearby buildings. Cracks formed in the street where their blows met, the cement breaking apart just from the force coming from their attacks!

Normally they would both back off and try another venue of attack, where they had unrestricted access or a better means of attacking, but they both knew that there would be none, so they continued their all out assault, neither one backing down for an instant. To do so could mean death!

Meanwhile, Jason was escorting the others back to the Library from an afternoon spent training at the rock quarry when he felt the sudden surge of ki, followed instantly by a disgustingly familiar surge of demonic energy, the taint unmistakable. '_What the hell the Executioner of all Omega's members was doing on the Hellmouth?_' he thought to himself, even as he got his sudden panic under control.

"Jason?" Willow asked, concerned when she saw the youth stop and look up in a very specific direction. "Is something wrong? Everything all right?"

"No," the blue-eyed warrior stated, startling the three trainees behind him, "Buffy's fighting. She's fighting another of Omega's agents. We have to move! Now!"

They wasted no time demanding explanations or asking questions. They all immediately went to the maximum percentage of solid energy armor that they could, with the exception of Jason, who merely went to 10 percent for the jumping advantage. Keeping a lock on the direction where he felt the energy surges coming from, Jason lead the way, leaping across rooftops and streets the same way anyone else would jump fences when cutting across yards.

It still took them several minutes to get even close to the warehouse district, mostly because Jason was holding back so the others wouldn't be lost. Even then, he'd never really been that good at sensing things unless they were close, so it took more time for him to pinpoint the exact street that he was feeling both Buffy and the Executioner were on. By the time they got there, it looked like the battle was half over already.

"Buffy!" Xander shouted, seeing the fight between a black figure and a ghost-white figure during his leap on the next street over. Before he could leap again, Jason grabbed him and held them all back.

"Wait," he ordered. "We can't just go charging in there. This is an agent of Omega, like the Judge, but _much_ higher ranked. He probably has a few vampires hidden around too. We need to sneak around and take out those vamps so that Buffy doesn't get overwhelmed or distracted. You guys go and do that, quickly. I'll go help Buffy, alright?"

Xander looked like he wanted to argue, but both Cordelia and Willow held him back, putting their hands on his shoulders and each gave them her own look, asking him to follow the order. Reluctantly, he sighed and nodded his head.

"Good, go!" Jason urged them to move.

Each bearing their own level of ghost armor, the ran off into the night to help their friend and slay some vampires. Jason watched them go, then grinned and calmly walked to the cross-street that would take him to an alley where he could watch Buffy's fight from the shadows. He was impressed though. Not many people in the world could piss of Omega so much that they sent in the Executioner almost right away.

Especially not just for him.

After all, what other reason would warrant _two_ Omega Agents coming to the Hellmouth? The Judge was in Sunnydale on a whim and only attacked Buffy because she'd dusted one of his minions, probably an upper lieutenant in his private army. Then Jason showed up and started teaching Buffy and her friends how to use Chi-Armor and while the Judge targeted Buffy, Jason showed up and destroyed him. Now the Executioner is in town? Hardly a coincidence.

Jason came to the end of the alley just as Buffy in her ghost armor and the Executioner were clashing in the middle of the street, throwing pure power at each other. Jason smirked as he kept himself hidden in the shadows of the alley and continued to watch.

"Interesting," he commented, observing how Buffy's ghost armor, 91 percent at the very most, was able to withstand contact with the Executioner's Demon Chi-Armor. In fact it should have shattered upon contact, if not from being in the mere presence of fully formed Demon Chi-Armor. Despite the apparent fact that the Executioner didn't have the armor covering his head made no illusion to the fact that it wielded fully powered Chi-Armor.

What this meant was quite simple to deduce. Buffy was stronger than the blue-skinned demon. Not just a little bit either. So much stronger that if she had her own Chi-Armor, she could squash him like a bug if she wished to, Demon Chi-Armor or no Demon Chi-Armor. It was also clear that the Executioner was aware of this fact and it pissed him off a great deal, making him angry and thus he was making mistakes.

Still, that was only if Buffy could ever activate her own Chi-Armor, which didn't seem to be happening right now. Jason was curious, however, and decided to wait and see what would happen next. Right now she had a chance, a 4:1 chance, but a chance.

Jason continued to watch silently as Buffy and the Execution continued to pound on each other, sometimes knocking one or the other back into a building or down the street, but they always got up again to continue. He sighed, getting bored. There was a reason those that used Chi-Armor associated themselves with elements and incorporated those elements into said armors. You could pound two Chi-Armor warriors together for days at a time and the most that would happen is they might get muscle strain and be a little dehydrated.

Pounding another Chi-Armor warrior into submission never works, though one could break through the armor enough to reach the flesh within, eventually that is. After all the armor is all about defense. Thus, elemental powers to add attack power to tear down those defenses are needed. Unfortunately for Buffy, she hasn't done that yet, and so the Executioner has the advantage, but thankfully not used it.

Almost as though they were on the same wavelength, Buffy realized what it was she was doing and what she was still missing. She landed a flying roundhouse kick that knocked the Executioner back, enough that she had a few moments breathing room, time she used to speak with Lioness.

'_OK, no more holding back, Lioness! This is crunch time and I don't have time to figure out riddles! How do I find out what my element is? If Willow can create a wave that floods the school, then there has to be something that _I_ can do, even without Chi-Armor!_'

_You already know what your element is._

'_Oh yeah? What?_'

_Willow told you she appeared on the ocean when communing with Dolphin. Then she summoned water. I'm not trying to make things hard for you Buffy, but somethings you have to figure out for yourself. You are so close, you just need to open yourself up to what you are truly capable of._

Buffy considered, keeping her guard up as the Executioner got back up to it's feet.

Willow appeared on the ocean during that spirit walk. Then in a fit of temper, summoned a torrent of water. So where did _she_ appear?

On a grassy savanna in front of a mountain peak called Pride Rock. Earth maybe? But then, why not a mountain range or nothing but one giant mountain, or in a cave inside the earth itself?

OK, so not earth. She was missing something, she knew it. Something small, but obvious at the same time. What was it? What was her element?

"Now is really not a good time to be distracted," the Executioner taunted her, right before throwing a hay maker at her unmoving head. Buffy's body reacted instantly and without thought, blocking the arm at the elbow and driving a knee up to the demon's torso before throwing him back. Buffy barely even noticed, her Slayer instincts directing her actions more than she was.

Thinking back, Buffy tried to remember what else she had experienced during her meeting with Lioness the first time. The grass? No, it really wasn't significant, and Buffy couldn't think of any element that had anything to do with just grass. Besides, it did nothing more than blow in the... wind?

The wind. It was constantly blowing the entire time, moving the grass like the waves of the sea, whistling through the rocks, and clearing away and stirring up everything all at once! Her element was the wind!

_You understand now._

Buffy glared at the Executioner with new strength, clenching her fists. The demon, seeing this, was taken aback for a moment, wondering what this Slayer thought she had up her sleeves. She had already surprised him more times than expected, he didn't need any more.

Not wasting any words, Buffy charged and attacked the Executioner anew, keeping her strikes sure and swift, while flowing her body around the demon's attacks like she was the wind itself. No sudden transformation was taking place or anything like that, and Buffy was still only at 90 percent, _maybe_ 91 percent finally, but not enough to make a huge difference. She was, however, able to adapt to her situation and began using a new tactic that Lioness's "understanding" had helped her figure out. The Executioner, annoyed, redoubled its efforts in attacking.

While that was going on in the street, over in the alley, Jason was still silently observing, and he was rather pleased when he felt Buffy trying to consciously access her element. It wasn't something obvious, but for one that was already in tune with their own element, they could usually feel when someone else started to draw on theirs. Likewise, that did not automatically mean that she had instant access and control over her element, just that she was trying to draw on it. From what he'd seen so far, it had helped her some, giving her a more unique style to use when fighting, but none of the signs of control were there just yet.

At that moment, Xander, Willow and Cordelia came up behind him in the alley. They had a few dust stains on their clothes, particularly on Xander, but were otherwise unharmed.

"You weren't kidding when you told us you were teaching us how we could be Slayers ourselves!" Cordelia said in a rush. "That was amazing! Wasn't it?"

"Some definite satisfaction was had on my part," Xander happily reported.

"I tried to drown a couple, but all I did was make hit them with holy water," Willow remarked.

"Well, since the water you summon is pretty much created in the purest form imaginable, it sort of is holy water, just minus the ritual blessing," Jason explained before turning back to the fight.

Seeing what he was looking at, all three teens were stunned.

"Uh, why aren't you out there?" Xander demanded.

"Because I really don't need to be right now," he replied easily.

"But what about Buffy?!" Willow exclaimed.

Jason shrugged and said, "Looks like she's doing OK to me."

"I thought you said you were going to help Buffy!" Cordelia shouted.

"Did I? Oh well, looks like she doesn't need my help after all. Though I am glad we rushed, I did not want to miss this."

"That does it!" Xander growled, lurching forward.

They all thought he was going to grab Jason and start threatening him to help Buffy or else, even Jason thought that. Instead, he ran out of the alley onto the street itself and started towards the fight, intent on helping Buffy himself. Jason blurred forward and grabbed the taller teen by his shoulder.

"Xander! Stop! Don't interfere!" he called, trying to hold him back.

Unfortunately it was too late.

Buffy and the Executioner had both sensed Xander's approach the moment he stepped on the street, and when they heard Jason shout, they turned and saw all of Buffy's friends standing there on the side of the road.

"Shit..." Buffy cursed out loud, her voice muffled and barely heard outside of the ghost armor.

"Oh, some back-up Slayer? Or by any chance are these just some hapless 'innocent bystanders', huh? I think they look like target practice. Get them!" the demon shouted, pointing.

After a minute where nothing happened, the Executioner shouted again, "I said GET THEM, YOU—!" The demon stared around in disbelief, but could not deny that all of his vampire minions had been destroyed by, all evidence pointing towards the four human teens before him. "How...?"

"Erhrm," Jason coughed, getting everyones attention, now that he had Xander safely behind him. "Very sorry to interrupt. You both can go back to what you were doing. Again, very sorry. Kick his ass Buffy!"

"Huh?!" the teens all screamed, even Buffy.

"Wait, who are you?"

"The Executioner asking a lowly human for his name?" Jason grinned, teasing.

They almost thought the big blue-faced demon was blushing, but his anger became apparent soon enough. "That's NOT what I meant and you know it! Who are you? Are you the one I was sent after or not? Are you the Chi-Warrior that destroyed the Judge!?!!"

"Yep," Jason answered easily enough. "Name is Jason Everheart. Nice to have met you. Please be quick about it Buffy, you have school tomorrow remember!"

"Wait, you aren't going to fight him?" Willow chirped, pointing at the Demon Chi-Armor weilding creature. "You helped Buffy quick enough the last time! She went and fought the Judge for who knows how long before we finally found her and the second we did, you stepped in and destroyed him, just like that! So what's changed?"

"Buffy couldn't win that fight," Jason answered with a shrug.

"And the reason you're not helping now?!" Xander screamed, incredulous.

"Now, she can beat him easily. With Chi-Armor. With the Judge, she'd only just figured out how to form solid-energy, she could only convert a maximum of twenty percent, not even a full fifth of her life force into solid energy armor. Now, she's holding her own at just over 90 percent. She can do it, if she wants to. So, KICK HIS ASS BUFFY!!" he screamed like he was at a spectator sport.

"I am so confused right now," Buffy said to herself, but decided to refocus her attention on the fight, then figure it all out later.

The Executioner seemed to have come to the same conclusion and the two of them threw their partial-armored forms at one another once more.

Xander, Willow and Cordelia just stared, stunned beyond words. Jason looked on with anticipation. Buffy did her best just to survive, because as much as Jason was acting like this was just another patrol where she wasted the vamps with no problem, this was anything but!

_I wonder_.

Buffy really did not need the distraction of Lioness's commentary on her fight.

'_Wonder... WHAT?_'

_I wonder if this is really any different from just another demon on patrol for you. You are still holding back so much, it's like you don't wish to go all out._

'_WHAT?!!_' Buffy screamed in her head and out loud, a burst of adrenaline allowing her to throw the Executioner back with a couple strong punches.

_Why is it you still have not achieved Chi-Armor? Even with all my help, you should have figured it out by now. You are still holding back._

'_I... am?_' Buffy stopped as the revelation rocked her. Followed by the Executioner rocketing her back into the wall of a nearby building with a kick.

"GAAAHHHH!" Buffy cried as she went into the wall, a vertical crater, the upper pieces of it falling down on her.

Suddenly, there was a sound of shattering glass, like a thousand mirrors breaking all at once.

The next thing anyone knew, Buffy, just normal Buffy, was lying there amidst the debris, looking shaken and battered. She didn't know what had happened, but she did know that her ghost armor was gone and she felt as weak as a kitten.

The Executioner started laughing.

"Oh don't tell me, you neglected to mention the limitations of Chi-Armor when you taught this Slayer, eh?" the blue-headed demon called to Jason. "How there is a time limit on how long her energy can remain in solid-form before reverting back to natural. Or that the more exertion used hastens that already short amount of time. No? Oh well, it was fun, and it certainly got my blood pumping, but I tire of this."

The Executioner's fists began to spark with crimson energy, and Buffy knew she was dead. She should have been dead already, but obviously the demon had been going easy on her by not using those energy blasts he could use. Buffy was scared, she didn't want to die.

"I'll save you for last," the Executioner gave Buffy it's horrifying grin, then turned to the only other four on the street. It was after sunset after all, and they were closer to the warehouse district than downtown.

Buffy's eyes went wide, a horrified gasp of "No!" escaped her lips, and then she was moving without any control over her actions. The Executioner formed and then cast a familiar-looking crimson lightning bolt towards Jason and the others, but before it was even halfway there, Buffy, her ghost armor fully in place, intercepted the bolt, letting it knock her back a couple of feet and then stopping. The Executioner and her friends looked on in startled shock.

You will _not_ harm them!` Buffy's voice through her armor took on a different quality.

"I thought I was done with you," the Executioner scoffed, then formed another bolt and fired again. Buffy's open fist shot out and intercepted the new bolt and held it easily. "What?!"

`You will _NOT_ harm them!` she intoned again.

"How did you...? No, it does not matter, you never stood a chance! You never did, foolish Slayer! _Crimson Lightning_!" the demon cried, shooting forth both his hands with bolts this time.

Buffy's ghost armored form adjusted itself, and same as before, caught both energy attacks in the open palms of her hands, blocking them fully. Those behind her, particularly Jason, noticed how her heels were buried in the asphalt, small trenches in front of her feet, but the rest was giving her enough to properly brace herself against it.

"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT?!!" the demon screamed in outrage.

Instead of answering, Buffy's ghost like figure responded the same.

`YOU WILL _NOT_ HARM THEM! I _won't let you_!`

The Executioner stared, uncomprehending, but witnessing the same as the others as Buffy's ghost armor began to glow brighter, shining with an inner light. "No!" the demon cried out, covering it's face as the light became blinding.

"100 percent," Jason grinned, unaffected by the light, though everyone else was covering their eyes and faces by this point.

"_POWER UP_!!" Buffy screamed, on Lioness's urging, and felt several things converge within her and she _felt_ what was happening, even as her body was surrounded by a blinding sphere of light, blocking all view of her body from sight.

Within the light, Buffy could feel it. She could feel her very energy, her soul almost, become solid and take shape, forged by her will and resolve to protect her friends. Her fists relaxed and then clenched, becoming armored talons. Her feet extended, feeling the armor form tight around her skin, _becoming_ her skin almost. Along her back, right between her shoulder blades, she felt that familiar tingling-burning when she first began using her solid energy, but now she felt something emerge. Metallic-feather wings, like angel wings, spread from her back and flapped once. Across her chest, the armor formed and the crest of a lioness formed, inlaid gold on white. Around Buffy's face and head, the helmet of her armor coalesced out of the wind itself, a swept-back design with only a tight slit-visor, the rest a blazing white highlighted with inlaid gold designs. As the transformation completed, the sphere of light exploded outwards, blinding everyone, but in its place stood a warrior.

Buffy, if that's even who was standing there anymore, stood over six feet tall, almost seven. Slim and hard-packed, the most notable feature of her Chi-Armor was the two giant, armor-covered wings coming out the back. The entire armor was a bright, pearly white with yellow-gold highlights and inlaid patterns that shifted between wing-swept and the crest and images of a lioness.

Behind her, because it was quite clearly a _her_ by a number the armor's smaller features, her friends all noticed that her heels had actual _heels_! Four-inch heels came from the back of her white armored boots, although it looked like there were no individual pieces, but rather everything was interconnected and was part of the whole. Nothing coming off or looking like it was attached at all. The feature-less, swept-back, eye-slit visor helmet added to the intimidation factor, but it also threw confusion on whether or not this was really Buffy.

Thankfully, that was answered easily enough.

Raising her arm, the noise of heavy armor moving unmistakable on the quiet street, they all heard Buffy's voice echoing, `_Don't even think about targeting them again!_`

The odd thing was that the echoes weren't normal, in fact it sounded like she was speaking directly into their minds! Jason saw their confusion and quickly explained.

"Telepathy. It's the natural form of communication for those that can use Chi-Armor. Because the body is essentially contained within it's own pocket universe, making noises and speech is impossible, so the mind reaches out to those than can understand it and the thoughts that are normally translated into speech by our body, are instead broadcast telepathically."

"And the reason you didn't tell us about this before?" Willow inquired.

Jason shrugged. "It never came up."

Buffy's armored form looked back at them, and Jason specifically. `_We'll be having a conversation about that kind of stuff _very soon_, Mister!_` she spoke to him.

"Can't wait," Jason uncomfortably remarked.

"UWAAAAHH!" the Executioner attacked while Buffy's back was turned, aiming a punch at her head, seeing it as the best chance to gain an advantage.

Buffy's armored talon shot up an instant before the Demon Chi-Armored fist would have hit, clenched tight around the demon's wrist and stopping all forward motion with just that. The impressive thing was that her 'head' was still turned towards Jason. Slowly, her armor clacking loudly with each motion, Buffy turned back towards the Executioner.

`_Oh, you're still here? Usually they run away when it gets to this point. Guess I got too used to Spike. He was always good at running away. It was annoying, but it made our fights short._`

Seeing that her opponent was now thoroughly confused, Buffy casually tossed the Executioner away and onto his backside. Information flooding her mind, both from her own instincts and Lioness's direct input, she understood a bit of what she was capable of now.

"You won't defeat me! I am the EXECUTIONER!!" The demon screamed and then gathered his fists and started shooting crimson lightning bolts at her. "_Crimson Lightning_!"

Buffy judged those lightning bolts the same she would an incoming fist or kick from a vampire on patrol and instantly knew how to best defend. Her armored wings suddenly expanded and then wrapped around her body, forming an interconnecting shield that took and absorbed the energy blasts with ease. The Executioner tried again and again, but five minutes later, Buffy's white armored wings weren't even scuffed.

When the attacks finally stopped coming, the wings extended once more, but much faster than expected. There was a mental shout of, `_Air Cutters_!` Dozens of small, green-gold energy blades shot out from the metallic wings, every one of them aimed for the Executioner, even if their flight paths were rather erratic.

"_Hellion Crack_!" the Executioner slammed it's fist into the ground and molten cracks spread from where he hit. A number of jets of hellfire shot out from those cracks, eradicating a number of the Cutters, but some still got through, knocking the Executioner back from the hits.

"Jump!" Jason ordered, instantly going back to 10 percent himself and leaping onto the roof of the building behind them. The others quickly followed his example.

Buffy just flapped her wings once, twice, three times and she was aloft, a good twenty feet over the street and beyond the influence of his attack. `_Say, how do you plan on reaching me all the way up here?_` she 'innocently' asked.

The Executioner growled, then smirked and turned his attention to the building that the Chi-Warrior and the Slayer's friends had escaped to. Before the demon could do anything more than that, dozens of Air Cutters were exploding all around him, driving him back. Seconds later, a still flying white winged warrior swooped down to hover between the demon and her friends location.

`_I warned you about that_,` she hissed, the venom in her voice all the more real via telepathy.

"That was just to get you in range," the Executioner gave her that horrid grin, then held it's hands up above it's head, palms facing each other. "_Putrid Death Wave_!"

Crimson energy began to spark between the palms, and where they met, an ugly red-black energy orb began to form. Within seconds it grew from the size of a marble to a beach ball, to a van, to a small house. Thankfully it stopped there, but nevertheless it was all the more clear that no matter how fast the Slayer flew, if that then blew at all, she would definitely be caught in the blast. Not that Buffy was going to run. If that thing blew, it would probably take out half of Sunnydale with it, if not more. She couldn't even let that thing blow up, let alone hit her.

Or maybe...

`_Let's see just how fast I really am_,` she mused, and then shot straight up, and kept going straight up.

"Hah! Fool, it doesn't matter where you go, I just needed to in range so I could lock the attack onto you! _Putrid Death Wave: FIRE!_" the Executioner hurled the red-black energy orb after the fleeing Chi-Armored Slayer.

Buffy _felt_ it the moment the attack was unleashed. Like the tingle down the back of the neck when a shark is swimming up behind you, or in her case, a vampire stalking her in the graveyard. Good thing that, as the Slayer, in the case of vampires _she_ was the predator.

Once she was about two hundred feet up, and Sunnydale was just a sprinkle of lights far down below, the Death Wave orb rising fast behind her, she stopped and just hovered in the air for a few moments, taking a moment to revel in the fact that she was actually _flying_.

Then, moment over, she turned her attention to the approaching Demon Element attack. She wasn't sure how she knew how to classify it, but it was as clear to her as the difference between a vampire and a human. Crossing her taloned arms over her chest, she began to concentrate, focusing her will on what she wanted, what she _needed_ to happen. The shoulder plates on her armor began to glow white.

`_Echo Cutter_!` she called, and two arcs of green-gold energy, one from each shoulder, shot out and down at the approaching orb. They split off from each other and attacked the slower orb from the sides, one going left, the other going right. The energy of the Death Wave was cut in half and halted in it's approach. Before anything else could happen, the two crescent-shaped energy cutters split up again, this time going vertically, one going up, the other going down, and then they did it four more times, going diagonally from every angle before the Demon Element attack had finally had enough and exploded a full thirty feet below Buffy's spot in the sky.

The threat over with, Buffy immediately dove back to where she could sense the demon, and her friends waited. The sky was lit up by the inferno from the exploding energy attacks, but from a distance it could be either fireworks, or a mid-air explosion.

To the Executioner, it looked like his attack had hit and he was the victor. That is, until he saw a white figure diving through the explosion, heading straight for him!

"No! Impossible!"

"Omega demons like to say that a lot when they're getting beat," Jason commented from the roof where he and the others waited for Buffy to finish the battle.

"You knew this would happen, didn't you?" Xander demanded to know.

"Only after we got here," Jason nodded. "But yes, once I saw how Buffy was doing, I knew that she would soon manifest her Chi-Armor. I wanted to give her that chance. That's why I didn't help."

"OK, I forgive you then," Xander said, looking back up, only to see Buffy was even faster in the air than one might originally think. She was already just above street level and with a flare of her wings, stopped only a foot above the ground, right in front of the blue headed demon.

Startled, and clearly scared, the Executioner backed away in fear, tripping over it's own feet and falling to the ground, and even then still trying to scramble away. It got back to it's feet in a hurry and turned and ran.

Tilting her head as she listened to something interesting the Lioness had just told her, those watching could somehow sense that Buffy smirked, like whenever Giles gave her a new weapon to play with... er, to use in battle.

Extending her wings to their full length, Buffy raised her taloned hands out to the sides, and then with a short call of `_Razor Winds_!` she swung both her arms and her wings forward to create a wave of wind. A wave of wind that quickly turned into a gale force wind that stopped the Executioner in its tracks.

The winds, however, did not stop once the Executioner was halted. In fact, they became even more intense, behaving more like an ultra-localized tornado, with more than enough force to actually pick the big demon up by the wind alone. That was only the beginning.

It started with some small scratches to its face, then the black armor around it began to get scuffed, then scratched in places. Then the scratches turned into gashes and full cuts. The Executioner was screaming during all of this, but those screams could not even be heard over the sound of the wind.

Buffy continued to hold her hands and wings out, but Jason noticed how her taloned fists were slowly starting to contract more and more. It seemed that with every little bit closer to a fist, the stronger the winds around the Executioner became.

It was a weak attack, Jason judged, but an Elemental attack is different from energy attacks. An Elemental Attack can only be countered with another elemental, or a much, much stronger attack. The Executioner, if it was thinking clearly and actually trying, could probably break out of the hold that Buffy had on it, but not easily. Demons that used Chi-Armor had only one option. Demon Element Chi-Armor. It was a sick and twisted combination of Earth and Fire, sort of like brimstone.

Normally both Earth and Fire were strong against Wind, but from the attacks Jason had seen already, he doubted that the Executioner had many pure Elemental Attacks, that _Hellion Crack_ the closest to what Demon Element was normally capable of. There was also no sign of counter attacks in the Executioner's repertoire. He was a hitman, pure and simple.

"Finish it Buffy!" Jason called. "Don't make it suffer any more than it has to!"

The slit-visor white helmet tilted its view to look up at him, then seemed to shrug, and the talons clenched into tight fists. The Executioner's scream finally became loud enough to be heard over the wind, and then it was gone, ripped to shreds by the very wind, and those shreds slice and dices and scattered to the four winds, not even leaving behind any blood.

"Whoa," Cordelia gulped.

"Understatement of the century, Cordy," Xander quipped.

`_I think you guys can come down now,_` Buffy called, finally settling herself back on the ground, her wings pulled back like the depictions of angels. Except that this angel's wings were covered with white metallic armor.

A quick leap down, and Buffy's friends gathered around her. She retained her Chi-Armor for another few moments, allowing them an up close view, before relaxing. They all stared, Xander, Willow and Cordelia in awe, Jason more analytical.

"Interesting," he commented. "Your Animal Spirit Guide is the Lioness, but because your element is Wind that seems to be enough to give you a pair of wings for flying. Not unheard of, but at the same time I do know of some Wind elements that don't have wings. Usually the only ones to have wings have a bird or otherwise winged Animal Spirit Guide. Very interesting."

"Interesting... is not really the word I would use for it," Xander said.

"Fascinating!" Willow gushed.

"That's the word," Xander quipped with a nod.

Buffy's armor flashed a blinding white, and when it disappeared, it was just Buffy standing there, still a little bruised, but otherwise perfectly fine. Then she collapsed in exhaustion. Thankfully Jason was there in time to catch him.

"Yeah, sorry for not explaining the consequences of using Chi-Armor sooner," he apologized. "But you needed to be able to do it before you could understand exactly how far you can go with it. Xander, care to help me out here a little?"

"Uh, yeah, sure!" Xander was immediately there and helped in picking Buffy up, putting her left arm around his neck while Jason did the same with her right arm, carrying her between them.

"Let's get back to the Library, OK?" Jason suggested.

"Yeah," they all agreed.

"So," Willow asked after they'd gone on for a while, "now what?"

"Now," their trainer answered, "the rest of you have your own turns."

END Episode Four

Preview:Buffy has finally received her Chi-Armor, the pinnacle of Jason's training. Now the others, her friends must all activate their own Chi-Armors. Will they be able to do it in time to meet what is still to come? Now that the Omega Order has lost two of its agents in Sunnydale, what will it the order do, and what does it want with Spike and Drusilla?

Next Episode "Vanguard"


	5. Vanguard!

**Vanguard Slayer**

Author:Joshua

Summary:Buffy has finally received her Chi-Armor, the pinnacle of Jason's training. Now the others, her friends must all activate their own Chi-Armors. Will they be able to do it in time to meet what is still to come? Now that the Omega Order has lost two of its agents in Sunnydale, what will it the order do, and what does it want with Spike and Drusilla?

Timeline:Up to "Bad Eggs" and beyond, but before "Surprise", which turns out very differently.

Disclaimer:Joss Whedon created and owns the Buffyverse, which is company owned by Mutant/Enemy Productions. "Chi-Armor" is, as far as I care, a semi-original concept, derived from multiple factual and fictional references, but the term and use itself is original to this story.

AN:Chi-Armor is NOT pronounced how it looks to the American, British, or even Japanese eyes, no offense. It is pronounced with the Greek approximation. Χ, or "ck-eye" is the way to pronounce it when you see the word put as Chi-Armor. If seen as chi or ki, _then_ it is pronounced how it is spelled.

Story:"_Vanguard!_"

The cemetery was quiet at midnight. Pitch black atmosphere, the lights from the street lamps didn't even come close to highlighting the gravestones at the edge of the graveyard. The atmosphere certainly fit with it being the resting place of the dead.

Except, that is, around the mausoleum at the center.

"Careful! Don't let that one get away!" Buffy shouted out loud, grappling with two vampires at once. Around her, all her friends were facing their own fiends of the undead, thankfully with their solid-energy armor active.

"On it!" Xander shouted as he shoved one of his arms through the chest of the vampire he'd been fighting. Once it was already dust, he quickly turned and ran like the Flash straight from the comics after the one vampire that was running off. All the rest were fighting still.

"Be careful," Jason called out, sounding very casual about the whole affair.

It showed too, as he was barely making any moves against the undead, but when he did, they were the ones that went flying or to the ground in pain or just plain falling to dust from a few precise blows from him. Most of the vampires were avoiding him now, choosing to swarm Willow and Cordelia as much as they could, but thankfully Buffy and Jason were not idle in this.

While neither one of them were going all out by any means, they each found that roughly 10 percent was all they really needed to wipe out the vampire hoard they were exterminating that evening. Ten percent boosted Jason to above Slayer levels of speed and strength, and for Buffy she got to use her new trick of thrusting her entire arm through the vampire's chest in order to dust them. Not to mention ripping off their heads became much easier.

All of the others were also using their armor, though limited to whatever maximum output they had available. Xander was at roughly 75 percent, Willow at 65-ish, and Cordelia was just barely over fifty percent, but still, all three of them had 'ghost armor' by now.

The vampire ambush had started out with just over thirty vampires, attacking in tandem as Buffy, Willow and Cordelia were walking through the graveyard. Jason and Xander had chosen to patrol the perimeter, but once the fighting got started, they hurried to rejoin their friends. By now the vampires were down to less than half their starting strength, but it was still enough to double-team each human and have a single one left over. That one just so happened to be wearing the uniform of an agent of the Omega Order.

The others were all 'locals' or had just been recently turned. Still, the one Omega vampire was leading them and directing them like a trained military officer, even if they only followed those directions about half the time. It made them just dangerous enough to warrant Buffy and Jason using solid energy in the first place, but certainly not enough for full Chi-Armor.

A bit more fighting, Willow dancing in and around her opponents fluid-like, Cordelia falling back to dodge and then surging forward with hard punches and kicks, and Xander striking hard, fast, and without mercy. Buffy and Jason were finished first and were working on bracketing the Omega vamp before he could get away.

Unfortunately, neither one of them managed to get it.

Someone else did.

"Kendra!" Buffy exclaimed upon seeing a familiar face as the vampire fell away into dust.

The Slayer from Jamaica was the same as always, her mocha brown skin smooth and unblemished, while being held in a strict, no-nonsense kind of way that used to drive a bug up Buffy's butt. At least her clothing choice had improved, going from brown silks and leather to an assortment of denim, cotton, silk, leather, and all in very complimentary colors too. She turned at hearing Buffy's voice and smiled warmly, finally breaking that strict demeanor that she always carried around like a proud banner.

"Buffy! I'm glad I finally found you!" the second Slayer rushed forward.

In the background, Xander came charging back, after having defeated the retreating vampires, and ghosted across the graveyard like an avenging wraith and swept the remaining enemies into dust with one decapitating rush. Seeing that there were no more enemies, Cordelia, Willow and Xander released their ghost armors with a sigh of relief. Only then did they notice Buffy and Jason off to the side speaking to a person they all knew.

"Kendra!" Willow screamed with glee as she raced forward to hug the Jamaican Slayer.

"What are you doing back here?" Buffy questioned, then a sour look crossed her face, "Your Watcher didn't happen to read more portents of doom heading our way, did he? Because let me tell you, I've had just about all that I can stand for this month."

"Uh, no," Kendra blushed. "Actually, I was told by Mr. Zabuto that there was some confusion and I had to report here for special training. Nothing else was told to me, except that Mr. Zabuto would be calling in some help to... pick up the slack?"

"Ohhh...Kay," Buffy looked confused, and obviously didn't quite understand.

"Uhm, sorry to interrupt," Jason interjected, having powered down after the Omega vamp had been dusted, "but who is this?" he asked, pointing at Kendra.

"Oh, right, you two haven't met," Buffy chirped, glad to have something else to focus on other than her confusion. "Kendra, this is Jason, he's new in town, wasn't here the last time you came by. Jason, this is Kendra, the second Slayer."

Jason startled and looked like he was about to bolt. "Uh... repeat that please?"

Buffy smiled and replied, "Kendra became the Slayer when the Master killed me, but Xander revived me with CPR. Thus, two Slayers. Kendra is the second Slayer. Do you need me to keep repeating?"

Jason just stared, open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

"Geez, what is wrong with you?" Buffy asked, annoyed at how he was reacting.

"I need to make a phone call," Jason stated before immediately turning around and walking off.

"That's weird," she commented briefly, then turned back to her Sister Slayer.

"Who is he? What happened to Angel?" Kendra innocently asked.

The way that everyone quieted down and their eyes darkened with sadness, Kendra knew she had said something wrong. "What is it? What happened?"

They all glanced back at Buffy, who took a deep breath and let out a long, quiet sigh, then she nodded. Xander was the one to actually answer Kendra's hanging question.

"Angel's dead. Killed, by a demon called the Judge. After that, Jason showed up and... well, he taught us a few things. He's also the one that finally killed the Judge," Xander said.

"How is that possible?" Kendra wanted to know.

They all shared a look, unsure of how to proceed as this was more Jason's kind of thing.

"That's... complicated," Buffy finally said to her. "We'll probably end up explaining it to you and showing it off later anyway, but we'd just end up confusing you or something like that. So, really, what brings you back to town? And what kind of special training?"

Kendra shrugged. They were all walking out of the graveyard now, more or less following the direction that Jason had run off in, leading back to the High School.

"He was unclear," Kendra admitted. "He just said that there had been some confusion over a deal the Council had made and that I had to report to Watcher Giles to receive some special training that had recently become available to the Slayer."

Buffy frowned, beginning to catch on to what might have happened here.

"OK, I think I know what is probably going on here," she said with a resigned sigh.

"That the Watchers made the deal thinking that Jason would go train Kendra and just send an operative to take out the Judge without ever meeting us?" Cordelia supplied for the blond.

"Exactly," Buffy nodded, not even bothering being surprised at Cordelia's sudden insight.

"I do not understand," Kendra glanced back and forth between the teens.

"Giles isn't the one that has the special training," Xander answered for the Jamaican Slayer, "Jason is. He's been training us for the past few months in something he calls _Chi-Armor_. Spelled 'c'-'h'-'i', but pronounced 'ck-eye' armor. It's seriously cool, and Buffy can already use it, but we're catching up."

Kendra frowned, and protested, "But it is the Slayer's sacred duty to fight the demons and forces of evil! Not... school children!"

"How many more times are we going to have to go through this?" Cordelia asked idly.

"Kendra," Buffy said, "I'll say this once and only once. My friends are part of my life, and I'm not going to give them up just because some tweed-wearing stuff-shirts a full continent plus ocean away tell me to. I'll even throw in what Jason told us to sell us on it. Instead of just one Slayer with extra powers, there's now a whole team of Slayers with extra powers protecting the Hellmouth."

Kendra blinked, her programmed learning unable to deal with the concept of a _team_ of Slayers, or even Slayer-level fighters, in one place at one time.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Xander grinned, ribbing her.

Kendra just continued to walk mutely alongside them as they went back to the Library.

_The Library_

_Half Hour Later_

It didn't take them long to get back to the Library, but Kendra was surprised to see that the boy the others called Jason had beat them back, and had apparently been there for quite a while. Currently he was speaking on Giles phone in the office. The door was closed so any conversation coming through was muffled and couldn't be understood, even to Kendra and Buffy's sensitive hearing.

"Ah, I had wondered what might send Jason off in a snit like that," Giles commented upon seeing Kendra enter the Library. "Wonderful to see you again Kendra. What is it that brings you back to the Hellmouth, if I might ask?"

"Special training," Kendra dutifully replied.

"My Watcher said that there had been some confusion and that I was to report directly to you the moment I arrived, Mr. Giles. I arrived by bus and noticed some vampires nearby, and so I decided to do a quick patrol before coming here. On my way past one of the cemeteries, I came across everyone and helped out where I could with destroying the remaining vampires, but it seems that it was not truly needed."

"Oh pishaw," Xander waved off the comment, over-exaggerating, "We'll always be glad of some extra Slayer style help, even with the small stuff. Wow, since when did vamps become 'small stuff'?"

"Probably right around the time Jason showed up," Willow surmised.

"Yes, about that," Kendra frowned and asked, "He is to be the one to train me? And he has already trained the rest of you?"

"Well, Buffy's already finished her training," Cordelia said, "The rest of us are still working on it, but we're getting real close. Xander especially."

Kendra's frown deepened and she shot Giles a meaningful look. Well, at least she meant for it to be meaningful, but while he seemed to understand what she was saying, he clearly did not agree with it, as the older Englishman frowned himself before looking down at his feet.

"Kendra," Giles started to say. "I believe I understand your concerns, but let me assure you, we have already discussed this issue and neither Jason, nor these young people could be dissuaded. Also, I would like to point out, Jason is in fact a completely normal human being, other than what it is that he is training everyone here for. I trust that the others have already told you some of what this training is all about?"

"Some," she admitted, "but I'm not sure that I truly understand. Not much of it made sense."

"Yes, well, uh…" Giles started cleaning his glasses again.

Suddenly, the door to the office slammed open and Jason emerged.

"Sorry about that," he apologized to Kendra directly. "I had to contact my... organization, you might say. They're the ones that made the deal about me training the Slayer with the Watcher's Council. In their negotiations, they failed to mention that there were now two Slayers and that the one they _wanted_ me to train, was actually in Jamaica, not Sunnydale, CA. Which is where they told us the Judge had been spotted, by the way."

"Ah, I see," Kendra frowned, stiffening her posture.

"Ah, I don't," Buffy countered, an annoyed look on her face as she rounded on Jason. "You mean you weren't supposed to teach us anything? You were supposed to go teach Kendra?"

"That," Jason answered, equally annoyed-looking, "is what the Watcher's Council is now making all this fuss about. Apparently, they had been expecting this Watcher, yours I'm assuming," he said to Kendra, "Watcher Zabuto to call them about a new person arriving to teach Kendra something. When they heard nothing about it in their weekly report from him for the sixth week in a row, they ordered Kendra sent here. I've been told to bring her into the fold."

He paused and looked Kendra up and down. Buffy frowned, recalling that look from when she'd first met the Chi-Warrior. Curious, she turned and gave Kendra her own analyzing look.

Privately, she asked her Animal Spirit Guide, the Lioness, _'So, what is it that lets Jason tell if someone _can_ or _can't_ use Chi-Armor, huh?'_

_She can. Her own Animal Spirit Guide is already in contact with all of us. She has as much potential as the rest of you and if she trains hard and accepts what Jason teaches her, she could become a powerful, and loyal ally._

_'Loyalty was not a part of my question,'_ Buffy mentally pouted at the Lioness. _'But I can see why you would point that out. The Watcher's Council has been getting a little bit too... manipulative with my life and the lives of my friends of late. Let me know if there's anything I can do to make sure Kendra is more loyal to _US_ than she is to the Watcher's Council.'_

_Of course._

Meanwhile, Jason nodded his head and told Kendra, "All right. You certainly have the potential to use Chi-Armor. The question now becomes, are you willing to learn from me?"

"And what is it, specifically, that I would be learning?" she questioned, crossing her arms.

Buffy and Jason both smiled widely at her.

_The Library_

_The Next Day_

The conversation with Kendra had gone about as expected for everyone. General disbelief, demands of proof, and near-catatonia from shock and awe when both Buffy and Jason demonstrated their respective Chi-Armor as final evidence. Jason was now repeating all of his earlier lessons that he'd shared with the rest of them, but just with Kendra one-on-one.

Since she was a Slayer, he forewent the physical conditioning aspect and instructed her purely in the mental and meditative aspects, directing her more towards aligning her energy and preparing her to meet her Animal Spirit Guide, which they all knew was speaking with their own spirits, but no matter the cajoling, they weren't told who, or rather _what_ Kendra's Animal Spirit Guide _was_.

For the time being though, Xander, Willow and Cordelia focused more on their own training, and continuing their physical conditioning, except that was being directed now by their individual Animal Spirit Guides instead of Jason and Buffy. It made knowing what they needed to work on much easier.

Another aspect of their training was in figuring out what elements they were aligned with. It was pretty obvious that Buffy had a Wind affinity, and they all already knew that Willow had Water as her element, and Jason had told them himself that he had Lightning, as well as what all the other elements were. And just because people they knew had one element and not another did not necessarily preclude them from having the same element.

Buffy made comment that she didn't even have an idea what her element really was until after she breached 100 percent and her Chi-Armor manifested. It could take the same event happening for each of them before they could be a hundred percent sure of what their element was going to be.

So far, neither Xander nor Cordy had shown signs of manifesting their element as Willow had done. Their Animal Spirit Guides, the Hyena and Raven respectively, hinted that they'd each already gotten the clues to what their element was, making Cordy think she too had a water element, given that her vision had included rivers.

Regardless, both of the highly hormonal teens avoided Willow for a while outside of training, patrol, and school. She wasn't visibly mad at them, and when they did speak with each other, she showed no signs of the temper tantrum she'd shown when she'd caught them making out. Still, there was a... vibe in the air around her whenever Xander, Cordelia, and she were all in the same room.

It was a strain, to be sure, and not something Xander enjoyed as he had to avoid being in the same room with his best friend and his maybe-but-not-really girlfriend. Mostly this involved avoiding one, or both of them. Something that he was trying very hard to do at the moment.

"Oh come on!" Xander cried out, chasing after Giles as the man walked away. "Why not? It's not like there's anything out there that I can't handle! And it's only a matter of time before the rest of us are where Buffy and Jason are. The Judge and the Executioner are gone, it would just be vampires, right? So why can't I patrol on my own?"

"Because it's too dangerous!" Giles snapped at the teen.

"You let Buffy patrol alone!" Xander protested.

"Buffy is the Slayer!" the Watcher retorted.

Xander snorted and got in Giles' way again. "And I can be stronger, faster, tougher, and arguably _better_ than just about any Slayer. Er, except Buffy that is. Still, you see my point. Stop thinking of this as each of us just having some temporary extra powers. Start thinking of us like Jason said; a whole team of Slayers. What could it hurt?"

"You," the man replied angrily. "You could get seriously hurt, or possibly even killed. No, I won't let you. I refuse."

"Well, what if instead of listening to you, I just decide to go out on my own and do my own patrolling, while telling you that I'm staying home in my room with the doors and windows locked?" Xander sarcastically offered him.

Giles glared, then faltered on seeing Xander's version of Resolve Face, though he didn't name it. It was just the look he got whenever he dug his heels in and refused to budge. Giles sighed and took off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"Fine," he finally relented. "But only for an hour, and you come straight back here before that hour is through, understand?"

"Absolutely, G-Man! You won't regret this," Xander exclaimed.

"I only hope you are right. Here," he handed Xander a quickly-scribbled note. "I'll have Buffy, Willow and Cordelia cover the cemeteries near the center of town. You can take those streets in the warehouse district at the same time. Remember, only..."

"One hour, there and back here, got it G-Man," Xander nodded, taking the piece of paper with a grin and hurried off before Giles could change his mind.

With a heavy sigh, the Watcher watched the young man scurry off, and could only pray that he was doing the right thing. Of course, it was only a matter of time now before Willow and Cordelia would be asking for their own patrol routes. Why didn't they ever cover this at the Watcher Academy?

_Warehouse District_

_Night_

Xander was walking quietly along the street, keeping his senses open as he passed shadows alongside the alleys and abandoned buildings all around him. He'd been on his first solo patrol for about half an hour now and so far there hadn't been so much as a single vamp. He was starting to get bored to be honest. How long until he finally found some demons to slay for crying out loud?

After the past couple weeks, he'd come to expect almost nightly vampire attacks, especially with all the Omega uniform vamps spurring the others on. Except for tonight that is, or so it seemed. Where was all the evil, he wanted to shout. Thankfully, he was able to hold his tongue.

Certainly didn't need to go around jinxing himself and the whole world atop the Hellmouth of all places!

Then again, as the thought back, Giles probably assigned him this area for the exact reason that the unscrupulous Watcher _knew_ it was going to be dead quiet tonight, (pun not intended). At least in this area it was.

Suddenly, Xander heard whistling echoing all over the area. He stopped and listened. It continued on for another few seconds until he recognized it as a poor, whistled, rendition of 'The Farmer In The Dell' and the way it echoed so he had no clue where whoever was whistling was at the moment. Spinning around and around, he tried to reach out with his enhanced senses of hearing and smelling, but was getting nothing.

Finally, after about three verses, the whistling stopped.

"Well, this is certainly creepy," he commented aloud, "Even for the Hellmouth."

There was a flash of movement, out of the corner of his eye, down the end of a dark alley between warehouses. Xander, against his normally keen instinct, quickly ran down to chase whatever had moved. His confidence in himself and the skills he had learned making him think he was practically invincible. At least against vampires.

Unfortunately, as the young man discovered upon turning the corner of the alley, he wasn't facing just vampires.

"Hullo Kitten," a soft, velvet voice broke the silence of the night. The dark, feminine figure stepped forward into the moonlight, showing the familiar face of Drusilla. Oh, and about half a dozen uniformed Omega vampires plus two collared hell hounds. The tags on the collars held the same mark as the badge over their hearts that all the vamps wore.

'_Oh shit,_' Xander silently cursed to himself.

"Mrs. Edith told me you would be here, at this appointed hour," the insane vampiress told him. "That you and I would meet under the moon and the stars, and that something very special would happen tonight."

"Oh really," he squeaked, gulping as his backed away from her. "What's that?"

The dark haired woman smiled serenely at him, before a demonic visage replaced it as quickly as an eye blink. Drusilla grinned with a feral intensity at him before hissing, "The stars sing of the chaos of the moment! For good or for evil, for light or for dark, for mortals to die or to live! All decided in Mortal Kombat! Heh, heh, heh!"

"OK, somebody's been playing too many video games," Xander quipped, right before charging his solid energy armor to its maximum, the ghost armor forming in a flash of light, and then leaping to safety atop the roofs.

Except he forgot about the hell hounds, both which leapt and tackled him mid-air before he get reach the edge of the nearest building. Frustrated at this turn of events, he grabbed both hell hounds by their skinny throats and threw them crashing to the ground, right before he joined them. Though he did manage to land on his feet.

They didn't give him time to enjoy it though, and before he could even get up, he was being dog-piled by almost all of them. Drusilla hung back though, waiting and watching.

'_This is not working!_' Xander growled to himself, trying to get out from under the vampires, but they had the advantage of superior strength and the leverage to back it up.

_Oh really? What was your first clue?_ He heard a voice, a familiar voice in his head.

'_Buffy?_' he asked mentally. He couldn't be sure though, as he knew that his friend had telepathy when she was wearing Chi-Armor, but she was supposed to be on the other side of town with Willow and Cordelia.

_Not exactly. Here's a hint. Yip-yip!_

Xander froze as his entire body locked up and tensed.

'_YOU!!_' he screamed inside his own mind, his anger making his ghost armor flash dangerously.

_Me._ The voice of the Hyena said, still using Buffy's voice for said communication.

'_Couldn't you at least pick someone __else's__ voice to mimic when you're annoying me?_' he snarled at her, still struggling to get free. '_It's getting real confusing what with Buffy able to talk inside my head now too! And I may have accepted you as my Animal Spirit Guardian, but that does not give you the right to just pop in and bug the crap out of me when I really don't need it!_'

_I know. That's why I'm speaking to you now,_ the Hyena said in the same tone Buffy uses when speaking to a particularly stupid vampire, _You kind of _need_ my help right now. That little rhyme Dru spouted off, mixed in with the video game reference. That was a prophecy. So listen up Xan, because if you don't... you're dead._

'_Get me out from under this _vamp_-pile and I just might listen!_' he argued back.

_What if I told you two of these six vamps here used to be part of your pack when you were possessed by the evil hyenas?_

'_WHAT?!!_'

Before the Hyena could respond, Xander's ghost armor kicked up about three notches and he moved even faster than before, slamming fists, feet, and everything else at the vampires, ripping off the heads of at least two of them and the hearts out of the other three, leaving only one vampire to guard Drusilla.

'_Now what was that about Omega recruiting from Sunnydale High School delinquents?_' Xander asked his Animal Spirit Guardian.

_I said what IF. Really need to pay closer attention, Xan. If you did, you might have noticed that your anger and righteous fury right there, it kicked your solid armor up to over 90 percent. Little more of that and you'll hit 99 percent before getting rid of that last minion there. Unfortunately, righteous fury isn't going to get you Chi-Armor. In fact, only one thing will._

'_Oh yeah, what's that?_' he asked, readying himself as he faced off against Drusilla and the last Omega vampire.

_You already know the answer to that question._

Xander felt the Hyena's influence leave him, like she went back to the lightning-filled plain of burnt grass rather than watch him fight for his life. '_Typical,_' he thought to himself, and took a deep breath before focusing more on the threat than his 'spiritual' issues for the moment.

Drusilla was suddenly in his face, moving faster than Buffy did against him that time she slammed him into a rock wall! He had no time to debate or decipher cryptic riddles, he _barely_ had time to react at all!

He backpedaled and ducked under her swinging talons, diving back and to the right, where unfortunately the last Omega minion vampire waited to grab Xander by his upper arms and hold him. This ticked Xander off plenty and with hardly any effort at all, he snapped his arms free and spun with a right-handed chop thereby severing the demon's head and vanquishing it into so much dust. The unfortunate part came into play as Drusilla used this as a distraction to close the distance and land a hit on the armored teen.

"GAAAHHHHH!" he cried out, feeling real pain and knowing he was injured.

'_Wha—what just happened?!_' the thought wildly, fleeing from the one remaining vampire by jumping up to the roofs. If anything, he'd certainly gotten in his practice jumping.

_You can die you know,_ Buffy's voice echoed throughout his mind. Despite the pain, he knew it was really the Hyena Spirit's voice, but he didn't have the presence of mind to debate semantics.

'_What... what are you...?_'

_Even while the armor is in place, even when you have full 100 percent Chi-Armor, you can still die. It's not an invincible shield you can hide behind like bullet proof cars or vests or whatever. So stop holding back Xander. Because if you really _DON'T_ know how to get Chi-Armor by now, you're stupider than even you believe._

'_...You are really annoying, you know that right?'_ he growled back at her as he let the ghost armor fade so it was just him standing on the roof there.

_Takes one to know one._

He laughed, but it came out more like a snort. "Truer words were never spoken. Or thought as the case may be."

_Uh, focus here Xan._

"Right," he almost hit himself in a 'Homer Simpson' moment. "Now, how does this go again?"

"Ooh, is the puppy going to start growling now?" an airy voice said from behind him.

"Y'know," he said as he turned around, "I used to really, really hate it when Angel pulled that crap. I really don't need the reminders, so in the future... put a bell on or something, OK?"

Drusilla did not respond, though a glint of amusement was visible in her predatory eyes.

Xander scoffed and shook his head ruefully. "Let me tell you something, I used to really hate Angel, period. Couldn't stand the guy. All he did was stalk around in the shadows and give cryptic not-really-helpful warnings that usually came too late to do anything about. And for all that he got the girl of my dreams, G-Man's trust, and got called a freaking hero while I'm just trying to stay alive and get called a 'lucky kid' or unlucky. Depends on your point of view I suppose."

Suddenly, Drusilla had closed the distance between them by ten feet before Xander could finish blinking during his tirade. He stopped his pacing that he'd unconsciously fell into during his rant and faced her directly.

"Then Jason comes along and I'm thinking, 'Hey, cool, I get to be a real hero now, a superhero even!' Then I get shown up by a kid that's a full year younger than me, Buffy's still the best, and Angel is still a hero that I'm comparing myself to. Well, Dru, I'm sick and tired of being the runner-up."

"Is the puppy going to try to grow into a wolf now?" she tilted her head as though listening to someone, or something else only she could hear.

"Not a wolf," he grinned savagely, an ugly expression on his face, "A hyena. POWER UP!"

There was a flash of blinding light, and from overhead a cloud cover had come in only a few minutes ago, now throwing down a bit of lightning. Specifically, one very large lightning bolt, heading straight for the roof where Xander and Drusilla stood. It struck Xander dead on.

"Oh... poo," Drusilla cursed as Mrs. Edith started shouting for her to get the hell outta there.

The Hyena was right. Xander knew exactly what it took to go from solid-energy ghost armor to full on Chi-Armor. He'd known it since the night he saw Buffy transform. The only reason he hadn't already attained Chi-Armor on his own was very complicated, but could be simply summed up with a single word; Fear.

He had been afraid of what it would mean to have all that power, and he'd seen it twice now so he knew what that power was and some of what it could do.

There was no easy way to say it, but Xander had been abused at several points in his life. Mostly verbally and mentally, but there had been instances of physical abuse under the guise of punishment. It used to be, in Xander's world that adults had all the power. And most of the adults he knew tended to abuse, neglect, or misuse that power in every way imaginable. Now he had the opportunity and ability to gain more power than practically any person on the planet had ever had before, and he was scared of what he would do with it.

If he were perfectly honest with himself, he'd totally admit to being as selfish, petty, and flawed as every adult he'd ever met and would undoubtedly mess up his own kids if he ever had them some day. That terrified him more than anything else. So having that much power, he had to wonder if he was worthy of it after having met people like Buffy Summers and Jason Everheart. Even Deadboy had some honor and decent qualities.

In the end though, it came down to a single choice. Accept the power and use it wisely, or die. Drusilla wasn't giving any other options. The powering down before summoning his Chi-Armor just gave him a chance to catch his breath, though he had to admit there was a certain kind of sense in that one had to start from a blank slate before rebooting to an upgrade.

As the bolt of lightning struck him in the crown, Xander felt a pressure and then a flood of raw energy flood him, like somebody hitting him with a hammer made out of water that cascaded down in a never-ending waterfall! He felt the bolts of energy strike out of his body into the air and the ground until they started forming shapes around him!

He felt the bolts turn solid and form silver-white gauntlets and gloves over his arms. The seed-lightning bolts coming out of his feet arched up over his legs until he felt the solid weight of full body-forming plat armor slide into place over his calves and thighs. Around his chest a burst of pure electrical energy flashed away, leaving a silver and white crest of armor in its wake, detailing muscles that hadn't been there six weeks before. Around his head, Xander could only see the blinding white, but he felt it as the lightning bolt from on high finally ended and pooled around his head until it formed into the helmet. From the outside it appeared like a cross between a motocross-helmet and a Power Ranger's, as there were hyena-esque influences present in the design, but it fit tight and pointed. The black visor stared out from between the hyena-face's jaws and the mouthpiece part of the lower jaw, making for a very intimidating presence.

Once the glare finally faded, Xander's new Chi-Armor could finally be seen and fully appreciated. Drusilla stared, her eyes going wide in shock and more than a bit of fear.

Standing on the high side of 7 feet, almost 8 feet in height with broad shoulders and a build to match so it looked natural. The appearance of the armor was a white-silver plate armor, fit tightly over his heavily packaged frame. Beneath the plates, just peeking out as a highlight almost, was black chain-mail-mesh that fit as tight as spandex would on a body-builder. The distinguishing features, beyond the helmet, were the shoulder pads and the chest plate. The former being jagged and sharp, standing out as vividly as his unique helmet design. The latter was more like Batman's armor, looking like chiseled pecks and abs made out of white-silver metal, and with the silver showing up as 'hyena-spots' similar to those found on the real animal's fur coat. The spots continued like large silver freckles all over the plate armor, but was most noticeable on the chest plate.

Besides these differences, he seemed virtually identical to Jason's armored form, right down to the ozone smell all around him and the sparks coming out of his visor/eyes.

"..." Drusilla said nothing in the face of this new threat, merely staring in awe, and by now more than a little terror. A simple, mortal boy was nothing to the master level vampire. This... Chi-Warrior on the other hand, only another Warrior of equal or greater power could stand against him, and Drusilla was neither of these things.

Xander, of course, new this and turned to stare at the insane vampiress with a cold glare.

Dru ran.

She ran faster than she had ever run in her entire existence, living and undead both.

Not ten seconds and five blocks later, the white-silver-black figure landed directly in front of her in a blur of motion. The vampiress skidded to an ungraceful halt and stared up at what could be her demise if she did not escape soon.

`_We're not done yet,`_ she heard the Warrior's voice inside her head, where only Mrs. Edith spoke to her, where the stars sang to her. And he was there! Inside her! _Speaking_!

"NOOOOO!" she cried, sounding as insane as she truly was, holding her head and backing away from the armored warrior. "NO NO NO NO NO NONONONONONONO NOOOOOO!"

`_Huh, well I admit I am impressive, but I don't think I warrant that kind of reaction. Although, considering who and what you are, I do have to admit it's kind of nice.`_

Drusilla jumped over the tall figure and tried to keep running.

_`Ah-ah-aahhh!`_ he chastised her as he reached up and grabbed her by the leg, _`I said, WE'RE NOT DONE YET!`_ he telepathically shouted, paralyzing the seer's mind for a moment even as he wrenched and threw the demon down to the ground, cracking the pavement from the force of the impact. Amazingly, there were no broken bones, but she'd be feeling that injury for quite a while, if she lived past the night that is.

Drusilla's powers as a seer were working overtime, taxing her thought process enough that she didn't even move as the giant picked her up and threw her into a brick wall, _trying_ to get a vision or see some way out of her absolute destruction. There was only one way...

Suddenly, as Xander was slowly stalking forward to where the vampiress had fallen, her eyes snapped open, a demonic yellow as she 'vamped out' and got to her feet in a blur of motion. Just as fast, she flashed forward and struck out at him with her sharpened talons.

_"Whoa,"_ he called, jumping back from the swipe. _"Looks like somebody still has some fight left in her. I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again, vampire!"_

The insane vampiress merely snarled in response. Xander replied in turn by charging forward in a burst of speed and slamming the dark creature into the cement before picking her up and backhanding the vampire over ten feet through the air and skidding another seven until she slammed into a telephone pole.

_`Too bad that thing didn't have big enough splinters to dust you, it might have saved you some pain,`_ Xander mocked. He walked confidently over to her, and then had to back away in a hurry as Drusilla took a swipe at him and actually scored a hit. The fact that he felt it was worrying enough, but there were also visible scratches on his chest plate where she had struck.

He looked back up at her, his visor covered eyes sparking with real lightning. `_Big mistake!`_ He lashed out with a hay-maker and knocked her to her backside in the middle of the street.

Seeing his fist clench and raise, however, she knew that she needed to switch from offense to defense in a real hurry. She got back to her feet and snarled at him once more. Then she dove and pulled a loose manhole cover for a shield as Xander extended his armored hand, concentrating on what he wanted. A second later, the Hyena informed him of how to do it.

`_Lightning Barrage_!`

The attack echoed throughout the alley and psychically also, even as fist-sized balls of lightning formed around the armored man's extended arm. They flashed with explosive power for a second before shooting across the distance in a flash. They exploded against Drusilla's shield, throwing her back into the side of a building and completely destroying said shield.

_`And now for the finishing touch,`_ he said as he angled his head to look up and raised both his arms above him. The dark, storm-filled clouds of earlier were still present and seemed to fill with even more power at his actions. Heat lightning jumped from cloud to cloud for several moments until Xander felt that enough energy had been gathered for what he wanted.

Looking back down at his target, he was surprised to see the vampire on her feet and running for the opened manhole that lead into the sewers. She was clearly still hoping to escape and Xander knew, even without Hyena having to tell him, that if she got into the sewers she very well could as they had no way to track her and the small spaces would severely limit their fighting options.

`_Too slow!`_ he mocked her as he summoned one final attack against the vampire.

`_Lightning_!` he called out and from the center mass of clouds directly overhead came a bolt of real lightning striking with energy, heat, and light upon the sewer opening.

Even Xander, behind the full protection of his Chi-Armor couldn't look directly upon the strike point and couldn't be a hundred percent that Drusilla had fried. After the lightning and thunder had faded and he could look, he saw only the devastation of a direct hit from the lightning and how the sewer had caved in a bit around it.

There was no trace of the vampire at all.

Except, he did see something out of the corner of his eye, and jumping down to take a better look, he saw it was a torn piece of Drusilla's dress. Knowing how vampires dust and everything, Xander was forced to admit that his adversary had gotten away.

_Oh cheer up_, the Hyena spoke to him, _You got your Chi-Armor and you're still alive. That vampire may still be around, but now she knows to fear you and you'll never see her again if she has any brains. And despite it usually being dead, most vampires do._

_`Not the point,`_ Xander replied. Then he relaxed and in a flash of light he returned to his natural human form. "She's still out there and a danger to everyone. Maybe not me or my friends, but vampires have to feed and that puts people in danger. I won't stop until they're all dust!"

_Uh-huh, that's good and all, believe me I fully support you here. But you're exhausted, it's night, your patrol is supposed to be over by now, and you have no idea where she went. Time to call it a night Xan._

With a sigh he nodded and turned in the street to head back to the Library. "Yeah, you're right," he admitted. "Time to call it a night. Uh, thanks."

_For what?_

"Just... thanks," he said with a blush and closed the connection on his side.

_Chase Mansion_

_Few Days Later_

_Saturday Afternoon_

"So, you already got your armor?" Cordelia asked as she brought a pair of iced teas to the loveseat she was sharing with her kind-of-sort-of boyfriend.

"Yep," Xander nodded with a smile as he accepted the beverage and made room for her.

"So?" she asked, her questions obvious, even to him.

He smiled and nodded back. "Well, as we pretty much figured out beforehand, my element is Lightning, same as Jason's actually. Hyena is my Animal Spirit Guide so instead of having stripes, I've got silver spots here and there. No wings either. Apparently that's just for wind-types, Jason says. Or ones that have a winged Animal Spirit Guide, like you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not having as much luck as you and Buffy have had with the whole Chi-Armor thing," she said with a pout.

"I don't exactly consider being able to turn into a giant armored super-powerful warrior a must-have in my relationships. Though I must admit it would be a plus, definitely not a requirement. So, you do not have to worry about me thinking any less of you. In fact," he paused, taking her hand in his and staring honestly into her eyes, and that was saying something.

"In fact, the way that you've gone into this whole thing and how you've not given up and how you're helping out so much, that means more to me than you probably know. Bimbo-for-brains," he smiled that lopsided smirk of his at her.

She returned with a winning smile and said, "Thanks. Dork face." Then she kissed him.

"Harpy," he kissed her back.

"Zeppo," she deepened the kiss so it was almost a minute before he could say anything.

"Queen Bitch," he replied breathlessly, holding the back of her neck and pulling her in for a deep kiss with tongue and everything. She whimpered and moved closer to him.

"And... don't you... forget... it... aahhaahhh!" she gasped between kisses before he started nibbling down her jawline to her collarbone, which he knew was one of her sensitive spots.

"Not... likely... any... time... soon... Oh god Cordy, you're so hot!" he whispered back, just as breathless as he caressed her body and tasted her skin. And he was right, she was like fire in his hands, but he liked her like that!

"Xander!" Cordelia gasped, bringing Xander's head in closer to kiss him senseless and to have him do the same to her. They spent over half a minute just keeping their mouths in contact, tongues wrapping around each other in an erotic dance the two teens longed to match with the rest of their bodies. At some point, Xander's hand went up her skirt and Cordelia unbuttoned his shirt.

Neither of them were doing much thinking by this point, concerned more with the pleasure and the sensations they were evoking within one another. The next thing either of them knew with any certainty was that Xander was down to his boxer briefs and Cordelia to her lingerie, the bra straps hanging loose off her shoulders and about two seconds from coming off completely.

In the next move, Cordelia straddled her boyfriend's lap, driving the both of them nearly over the edge just from the proximity of their bodies now. She held onto his neck with both hands and leaned back, giving him a good look at her body while taking the same pleasure from him. Her bra finally was thrown over her shoulder somewhere and she couldn't stop the blush when Xander gasped in awe, his pupils dilating almost to black in arousal.

"Oh god, Cor! You're beautiful," he whispered passionately.

"You're not so bad yourself handsome," she whispered back, leaning back forward to kiss her wonderful boyfriend and reward him for paying her such lovely compliments. Then he did that thing with his tongue and all thought and reason left her for a little while.

She squirmed around on his lap, her breasts, full and hard, scratched against his full barrel chest. Then they froze suddenly as her squirming brought their still covered areas into direct contact, contact which nearly had them cumming in seconds, but they stopped instead, letting the overwhelming sensations course through them for a moment before locking eyes. Slowly, she moved, not away but closer, rubbing her moist satin-clad mound against his hardness. They both gasped at the sheer pleasure that rocketed through them at just the slightest vibration.

"Oh my god you are so hot!" Xander gasped out in a single breath. He reached up with both his hands to grasp her about the waist, whether to pull her off or pull her closer neither of them could say. What did happen was that he held onto her waist and didn't let go, and she felt empowered by the notion that it was she that turned him on so much.

"Xander! Gawd! Love you!" she panted between gasping breaths.

"I love you Cordy," Xander gasped back, "Love you so much it hurts!"

They pulled themselves closer so there was hardly any room for air between them. The motion tipped them dangerously close to the edge of the couch they lay upon, so Xander decided to exercise some of his new found confidence and picked his girlfriend up in both arms, all while kissing the sense out of her. She just held on, locking her hands behind his neck and kissing back.

After some stumbling around and taking quick glances between kisses, Xander finally managed to get them down the hall and into the ground floor bedroom of the pool house. He wasn't entirely sure on how or why, but apparently after Jason came to town, Cordelia moved out of her extravagant room in the Chase Mansion and claimed the entire two-story w/basement pool house as "hers" and that was why they were out here in the first place. Now, he couldn't be happier as it meant they didn't have to worry about servants or heaven-forbid Cordelia's parents finding them at that moment. It was a big time relief to their inhibitions too.

By the time he laid her on the bed, somehow on the trip between the closed-off sitting room and the bedroom, their last articles of clothing had floated off somewhere, leaving them as natural as the day they were born.

Xander didn't even bother with the blankets and sheets, too caught up in his passion for the woman that he loved to care. He gently placed the brunette bombshell on top and joined her a heartbeat after, laying down next to her, kissing and drifting his hands all along her gorgeous body.

Cordelia mewed into his mouth, his hands leaving trails of fire that burned a path across her skin. After his touch moved on to different parts, she feared the cold moving in claim the area and shock her out of lust-induced haze. Instead, the fire within gained in strength and when his touch returned, it just got hotter, the cold air refusing to touch her. Soon she felt like she really was in a fire, or oven or something really really hot! It wasn't uncomfortable, it made everything amazing!

Kissing and touching were all well and good, better than good in fact, but their hormones were screaming at them that there was something much better they could be doing with one another.

Soon, the flirting touches, soft caresses and passionate groping shifted from all over to the few spots that gave more pleasure than all the rest combined. Cordelia held him in her hand and jacked her fist to keep him hard. One of Xander's hands groped across both of her breasts, while the other fingered her sopping wet pussy, two fingers plunging and caressing while his thumb teased and rubbed against her clit. They cried out in gasps and moans, barely able to contain themselves, yet still afraid of taking that one final step.

It was more than they could handle at once and the fear slowly dwindled until only their love and raw instinct remained. Raw instinct that was overridden by their still conscious brains and had Xander scrambling for protection, only to find none nearby. Cordelia was too hot to think clearly, and even for the small amount of time that they stopped, she was still riled up, even more so in fact!

"Xander," she moaned, pulling him back to the bed when he'd stood up to check the kitchen or the bathrooms, "I don't care. Neither of are sick or anything and... whatever else happens, I... I love you. I just can't wait any longer! Screw the protection! I'll just take a morning after pill or something."

"Wait a second. Protection..." he trailed off thoughtfully. He grinned suddenly and said, "I've got an idea, just give me a second here." Then he kissed her passionately. "I love you. You're a genius. I love you."

He sat back on the bed, sitting on his haunches, and Cordelia took the time to enjoy the view of her strong, muscular and naked boy friend sitting there with nothing to hide. Xander, unfortunately, forced himself to close his eyes and began to meditate. The same meditation Jason had taught all of them to help them in learning how to achieve Chi-Armor. And also solid-energy.

Moments later, there was a muted flash of light, but not all over Xander's body, only around one specific area, or appendage so to speak. Cordelia's eyes went wide. "Oh, Xander!" she gasped.

He opened his eyes and looked down. His smile was full of pride, though the leer he shot his hot girlfriend was filled with a very different sinful emotion. "Awesome," he said, "It worked! What you said about protection gave me the idea. Solid energy is supposed to be all about protection, so I just... adjusted the energy around that, er, area and converted only a small part into solid energy. It should work and hold up until we're heh, done so to speak."

"And the extra few inches in size?" she mocked, shifting glances from his now glowing crotch and his dark, lust-filled eyes.

"For your benefit only, love," he whispered huskily, falling over her and drawing her into another deep kiss. This time they skipped the foreplay.

There was some hesitation and teenage awkwardness for a minute or two while they got themselves into position, their emotions raging all over the place, but then they connected. Xander was right at the cusp of her opening, pushing her folds back and the sensations from that alone nearly had the two of them collapse in sheer ecstasy. He had to stop himself from pluming her depths lest their first time be far too short a time for either of them.

Finally, the moment came in which they joined as one. Xander pumped his hips and practically fell into her depths, going so far and so deep that he felt like his whole body was being sucked into hers. Cordelia gasped, the sudden fullness and stretching an unfamiliar sensation to say the least, but definitely pleasant!

After what felt like an eternity between the two of them, Xander's body came to rest, hilt-deep inside Cordelia's warm, wet and tight embrace. For the longest moment, once they were filled with one another, they just lay there, basking in the emotional feelings and physical sensations washing over them both.

Then, little by little, Xander began to recede, startling a cry of pure lust from the brunette babe's throat. Her arms shot to her lover's neck and held on tight, her eyes staring into his with a scary intensity. He stared right back and left his body on automatic.

Fifteen minutes later, an impossible fifteen minutes later, the two were still at it, rutting together in the oldest dance of human history, sweating and shaking and breathing as one. It was mostly due to the rather dull lack of imagination in their making love that allowed them such a lengthy coupling, most would say. But the simple fact of the matter was that they were too into each other to bother being overwhelmed by the act of being in each other.

It was a slow climax, but it was one neither would ever forget for the rest of their lives. Cordelia started first, her cries a little sharper, her gasps shorter, and her muscles rippled up and down Xander's shaft in delightful ways that milked him for everything he was worth. Her orgasm started slow, built, and then crashed like a tidal wave against the shore! Xander's was sharp, fast and blinding, but no less intense!

They held onto each other, their bodies shaking and tense, screaming out from the intensity of their love and what they had just shared with each other. Amazingly enough, Xander's solid-energy condom held even after his orgasm subsided and when he finally pulled out it remained in place until he willfully released it and his crotch was suddenly covered by a torrent of his cum.

They lay together for a short while, just holding each other, nearly falling asleep as the fatigue settled in. For a time, they merely felt elated, basking in one another's presence in the aftermath. Then the endorphins ran their course and their conscious thoughts began to make themselves known once again. Cordelia tensed for only a moment, but Xander hugged her and drew her closer. She relaxed once more and breathed in his scent.

"I love you Cordy," Xander whispered into her hair, holding her tightly to him.

"I love you Xander," she whispered back into his neck, holding him just as tightly.

After that, they just lay there in each other's arms, accepting that whatever may come will come. For now though, they were just happy to be together, and that was enough. Talks and conversations could wait until tomorrow.

_Sunnydale Uptown_

_After Patrol_

_Night_

Cordelia sighed to herself as she slowly jogged along the sidewalk in the direction of the rich side of Sunnydale, towards her home. Most people considered jogging at night to be a bad idea in general and suicide atop the Hellmouth. After a rather uneventful patrol however, and another day of training where she was no closer to gaining her Chi-Armor, the Queen C of Sunnydale High felt the need to live a little dangerously for once.

Besides, if there were any vampires or demons about, they would have already shown up to be taken out earlier, and with her solid energy at close to ninety percent she was hardly helpless. Well, 85 percent, but that was _almost_ ninety!

She had a lot on her mind at the moment anyway, and she had discovered quite recently that running to exhaustion often helped clear her mind. At the forefront of her thoughts was what had only happened to her earlier that afternoon in her very own room!

She'd given her virginity to Xander Harris! The Class Clown King of all Losers! Her boyfriend in fact! If she weren't so vain, she might not even care, but at the same time a part of her couldn't help but care that a year ago she wouldn't even bother giving the boy the time of day, let alone be _this_ committed to him!

Still, she couldn't deny her feelings in this regard, and he made her feel... well, a lot better about herself than anything her so-called "friends" and temporary hunky jock boyfriends could ever do for her. Then there was what Raven had shown her in her vision quest.

Now that, was another thing on her mind. The vision quests that all the others had gone on had shown some aspect of their elemental affinity. Willow appeared in the middle of an ocean, her element was water. Xander appeared in the middle of a lightning storm on a burnt grass plain, and it was revealed his element was lightning. Even Buffy, she appeared in an African savannah where the wind never stopped blowing and her element turned out to be wind!

And what about her? She appeared on a bridge that represented her 'safety net' and she needed to jump off it to progress any further along her path. A path represented by rivers traveling through the forest of all things!

For a time she thought that meant that she too had water as her element, but Jason was quick to assure her that was not the case. He couldn't, or wouldn't tell her what he thought her element really was, but he was positive she was not a water element.

After that, she'd tried meditating on her own to see if she could get back in touch with Raven, but he was strangely silent. Which was yet another thing as all the others, even Kendra that had just joined the group, said that they could all communicate with their Animal Spirit Guides all the time now. Well, not _all_ the time, but they did talk about things every now and then, and Xander and Buffy both confirmed that the advice of their Animal Spirits was indeed instrumental in helping them attain full Chi-Armor.

Since her vision quest had ended, she had not communicated with Raven even once.

She suddenly stopped, coming to a running halt.

On the other hand, maybe he _had_ been communicating with her, and she just hadn't been listening. Just because the others got to hear voices and feel a presence within themselves doesn't mean she's been left out. Raven had told her already, Animal Spirit Guides most often communicated through their charge's _instincts_ and _intuition_!

Feeling a tremble of excitement at the thought, Cordelia smiled and resumed her jogging pace back to her home. A second to get her bearings, she saw that she had about four different ways of getting home. Not bothering to think it over, which is something she would have done to either avoid her enemies, spy on her rivals, or even just pass by her favorite boutiques to get a look at the latest fashion trends, instead Cordy just started down the direction that felt right to her at the time.

Looking back on it, she realized that while what happened after was traumatic for sure, it was something that she needed to experience and was most likely Raven whispering in her ear at the time. She might one day wonder what would have happened if she had gone down any of the other three routes, but at the time all she cared about was running to clear her head.

The route she had unconsciously chosen on her way home took her through some back alleys, roads that were rarely traveled by anyone, even during the day, and were absolutely deserted at night. Except of course for when a vampire from out of town sees a hot brunette running down one of those hidden streets and decided to cut her off for a little midnight snack.

It all happened in an instant. There was no warning, no dramatic music, not even a whisper to make the girl pause and wonder if there was someone behind her. One second Cordelia was running along, in less than half of the next second, the vampire had grabbed her by the throat, covered her mouth and dragged her off to the side, his fangs already moving to her jugular to feast.

The .2 seconds it took Cordelia to realize what was going on seemed the longest in her life, and her body was already reacting to the threat in half that time. The vampire grunted when her elbows slammed into his ribs and torso over and over again, causing actual pain, but not quite the same level that would affect a real person.

"Stop that," he shook her by the throat, one hand still over her mouth, "I'm trying to eat in peace here! And that's not helping."

If she was of a mind too, Cordelia might have rolled her eyes and tried to make some scathing remark about vampires and eating habits, but she was a touch more concerned with staying alive at the moment. She didn't stop struggling for a second, not even when the vampire's grip around her throat started to choke her!

When slamming her elbows into his ribs and kidneys didn't work, she started trying to kick at his legs, aiming mostly at his feet and shins, but hoping for a family jewels shot if she could manage it. She hit about three out of four kicks, and the extra pain for the vampire, while not having him hopping on one leg or anything, it was keeping her alive for precious seconds.

"I said stop that you stupid whore! I can smell you ain't no virgin no more, and you definitely got that fresh fucked taste, so don't even trying to deny you're a whore! Maybe I should take me a free sample, huh? Is that what's got you all squirmy?" he taunted her, reaching down with the hand not over her mouth to fondle her.

That did it! Cordelia was _pissed_!!

It was one thing to try and kill her! It was another thing to taunt her while doing it! But to call her a whore and make fun of what she shared with Xander? This vamp was dust!

Tapping into her solid energy, Cordelia didn't even focus on converting more power or focus on her element or communing with Raven. She was too angry to do anything but force the change through the sheer fury of her will power!

Ironically enough, that's exactly why Raven guided her down a path that put her in serious mortal jeopardy, and it was exactly what she needed to do to gain her Chi-Armor.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" she screamed from behind the hand over her mouth, and her body lit up with a fiery glow.

"OW!" the vampire quickly dropped her and backed away. The most amazing thing was not that she didn't fall, instead hovering there while glowing like a blowtorch, at least not to the centuries old vampire. The more amazing thing was that she had burned him! Like her temperature, her very skin had reached and surpassed that of an open flame!

"What the...?!" the vampire exclaimed, watching in horrified awe as his would-be victim transformed before his undead eyes.

The fiery glow surrounding Cordelia's body intensified until there was a sudden surge of power from somewhere and for only a moment, her form was obscured by a blinding flash of red-orange-yellow light. In that moment, Cordelia felt her energy shape itself to her Will and her Need, her very life essence becoming solid and wrapping around her body like a cocoon of protection.

Her clothes might as well have vanished, she didn't feel them. She stretched out her arms and legs, feeling the fiery energy infuse every cell. Around her arms, red plate armor with red linen-like material beneath formed in a flash of orange flames. Her legs, likewise were covered with red plate armor, lined with yellow-gold engravings and lining, the same heeled boots as Buffy's white armor appearing in red for Cordelia. Her hands clenched and the flames turned yellow before burning away to reveal yellow-gold talons with a red undertone. Her torso was covered with a mix of orange and yellow flames leaving behind a shaped ornate crest of red and yellow-gold armor, the symbol of the Raven emblazoned across her finely-shaped chest in gold. Finally, Cordelia opened her eyes for the last bit, the fiery energy coming from them like sparks from an open fire. Her dark brown hair gathered up and in a blaze of power, the helmet coalesced into a nigh-demonic or maybe Arch Angelic depiction, a golden-lined face framed with a blazing red helmet, a mane of orange hair falling from the top and falling to midway down her back. The eyes started out as her normal brown irises, then they began to glow with the same sparking energy and turned red, then orange, and finally a burning hot yellow-gold with no irises at all, just power. In a final burst of power, flames poured out of the armored warrior's back, except they didn't go away. It wasn't until the transformation completed that the flames finally stilled and became recognizable as two giant orange-feathered _wings_!

After her energy stabilized and Cordelia took a second to realize what had just happened, she looked down at herself and smiled beneath the mask of her Chi-Armor. Feeling around for a second, she flapped her wings once or twice and realized that unlike Buffy's wings, which might as well have been mechanical given how they were armored, her wings weren't covered at all. They were pure feather and muscle. Well... feather and solid energy at any rate. Still, the difference was noticeable.

Looking up, she saw that her attacker was standing there at the edge of the shadows, his mouth open in shock, and his arms and hands covered with burns she idly noticed.

_`Oh, you're still here?`_ she observed. Her hidden grin became almost feral, though the vampire couldn't see that beneath her expressionless golden mask. `_Good._`

Reaching out with one hand, she called out the words on pure instinct, `_Fire-starters_!`

Starting as barely a spark, as it always does, but quickly growing and gathering strength, a fire started just in front of the 7 foot red armored warrior, a fire that quickly extended a tongue of flame towards the still-staring vampire.

Said vampire quickly realized what would happen if that fire touched him, and he turned to run as fast as he could, not looking back. He didn't get far.

The whole fire, which might as well have been a fireball at that point, slammed into the fleeing vampire's back and covered him in seconds. Before those seconds were even counted, the lone vampire from out of town was nothing more than burnt ash down the sewer drain.

Seeing the threat neutralized, the red armored warrior lowered her hand and seemed to take a breath and let out a sigh, though nothing but the clacking of her armor could be heard. Until a more natural sound that of wings being unfurled and flapping in the air became more prominent.

Cordelia lifted her armored head to the sky and would have laughed out loud if the sound could have been heard. Instead, she gave one strong flap of her natural flame-orange wings and was airborne seconds later. She spent the rest of her time before curfew flying over Sunnydale, enjoying the sheer joy of flight. It was definitely way more relaxing for her than jogging all over the town!

_Training Quarry_

_One Week Later_

_Afternoon_

The whole gang had gathered once again at the rock quarry Jason had secured for their highly destructive training in Chi-Armor. He never did explain how he'd secured it, but seeing that no cops ever showed up from all the explosions and tornadoes and fireballs that came as a side effect of that training, they weren't going to complain.

Today, Jason wanted to have a free-for-all sparring match between the ones that could now use Chi-Armor. Mostly to get everyone used to their new abilities, but also to exercise and see if they could come up with new abilities, or attacks on their own. Unlike most days, Jason would be participating in this using his own full Chi-Armor.

Unfortunately, not all of the gang had progressed as far. Namely Willow and the newly arrived Kendra. Though she had started 'late', the Jamaican Slayer had quickly absorbed everything Jason had to teach her. She was already up to 75 percent solid energy and Jason had guessed that it would only take some more training and interpreting the message she received from her Animal Spirit Guardian, which could be anywhere from another month to that very afternoon.

Willow, on the other hand, despite having learned how to access her elemental abilities, was no closer to attaining full Chi-Armor. She'd managed to push her solid energy output to the low nineties. In fact she was at the same level Buffy had been stuck at before the Executioner had attacked. Except she _did_ know her element and it still made no difference. She could not reach any higher without attaining full 100 percent Chi-Armor.

Dolphin was giving her hints every now and then, but Jason told her that she was over thinking it, and after hearing some of her theories on what to do to get her Chi-Armor, Buffy and Xander had to agree with him.

Kendra had a similar barrier to overcome, not in the physical, but the mental and spiritual. She understood and was very accomplished at converting her natural flowing life force into solid energy, but without that final push, coupled with knowing what her element was and how to use it, she would be stuck at 75 to 90 percent solid energy ghost armor and that was it.

Until those final barriers were overcome, however, Jason had the both of them on the sidelines, meditating or exercising to build up their life force energies. While the rest of them were down in the quarry getting ready to square off.

The four of them stood at the center of the stone pit while Giles, Jenny, Willow and Kendra stood a 'level' above them, far enough away to avoid being in the line of fire and still be able to make a run for it, yet close enough to still see.

"Ready?" Jason asked, looking across at Buffy and at either side to Xander and Cordelia.

They all nodded and took a few calming breaths. Xander and Cordelia especially needed it. Finally the three of them nodded and said to him, "Ready."

He nodded back and said, "Then let's do this. Don't worry so much either. It's just practice. We're not going to try and kill each other."

"Right," Buffy agreed, still breathing steadily.

"Yeah, after all which of us would ever want to try and kill the other?" Xander joked.

Cordelia shot him a glare, while the other two glanced nervously back and forth between the two of them. "That was supposed to be a rhetorical question, Cordy," Xander snapped at her, glaring right back.

"Right, sure, whatever," she said offhandedly.

"Can we get on with this please?" Jason interrupted the fight before it could take off.

"Sorry," they both apologized.

"Thank you," he grinned, then turned and walked five paces back. The others all copied his actions, turning on the spot and taking five paces away from each other. As one they turned back to face one another and then clenched their fists, readying themselves and raising their energy levels.

On the cliff, Willow and Kendra could both feel it before they saw anything, a sort of echo throughout their whole bodies that let them know someone nearby was using solid energy and the sheer amount of it as well. Giles and Jenny felt nothing out of the ordinary, but could understand the tension in the air. It wasn't every day you got to see four warriors gather to use near-mythological powers to train.

Down below, the four teens were as ready as they were going to get, they were just hesitating, see who would go first, so to speak. In the end, the amount of time between energy spikes was so insignificant that it couldn't be realistically measured, and was close enough that it could be said they all transformed at the same time in fact.

"POWER UP!" their shouts echoed throughout the quarry.

The light was blinding as all four warriors transformed at once. Once the initial glare had died down though, Willow and Kendra could see the Chi-Armor form out of the solid energy over their friends and comrades.

Jason was covered in living lightning, all of it emerging from his skin, eyes, hands, his whole body. The living lightning writhed all over him for a minute, and then coalesced around his body like a tamed beast responded to the trainer's commands. His fists opened into tiger claw palms, a flash of energy later his hands were covered by metallic silver claws that would make any tiger jealous! Around his legs, the energy stretched itself thin, wrapping itself around in stripe like patterns of lightning strikes. Another flash and the white armor formed over his lower half, highlighted with silver tiger stripes along the edges. His chest was one mass of living lightning energy, writhing all over and across the rest of his body, until it suddenly blazed with refreshed energy and in the next moment, a tiger crest on white plate armor outlined in electric silver formed. The last piece formed from his eyes, the energy reaching out and transforming itself in a wave starting from that point, like a wall of light driving back the dark. The helmet was a white full-head helm patterned after a samurai's animal-like headgear, but of a tiger, all white and painted silver here and there. One final burst of white lightning arched out from the now armored 7 plus foot warrior as he stood ready to battle.

Buffy began her transformation the same as her first time. From two points on her back, a pair of wings appeared, flapped once and then again, revealing her white armored wings. White armor with gold highlights formed from the very air around her, swirling around her body, her legs, arms, chest and head. The white and gold talons flashed and clenched tight around her hands. Her legs were covered just as quickly, the heeled boots forming fluidly with the rest. The golden lion-themed crest appeared upon her white plate armor in a mini-tornado of energy. The single-slit visor helmet formed last, gold energy moving like the air itself around her head and face. The next burst of energy coincided with the white and yellow-gold armored warrior flapping her wings, talons spread and stance firm as she braced herself to fly or fight.

Xander this time did not need a thunderstorm on hand to call down a burst of lightning, nor did he need a real lightning strike this time. As with Jason, the lightning seemed to come from within him, though far more violently than with the more experienced warrior. Arcs of silver lightning blazed across his skin and body like the bolts of a lightning ball. The energy was bright enough that it made his body seem black in comparison. The black chain-mail body armor formed first, enclosing his entire body as the silver white bolts of power coalesced into the silver and white outer plate armor. Around his fists, silver-lined white gauntlets formed with a flash of power, his fists clenching tight. Around his legs, the lightning danced across the black armor and left the same silver-spotted white plates of armor in its wake. Across his torso, the silver-spot Hyena influenced crest of armor appeared in a blazing burst of power. The helmet came next, forming around his head from the energy pouring forth from his eyes and mouth. The familiar Hyena-themed helmet snapped into place with the few final sparks of power from the transformation. Once everything was in place, there was a build up of power until raw arcs of electricity and lightning leaped from the silver, white and black armored figure as it flexed its muscles and clenched its fist in anticipation of the coming action.

Cordelia was covered in ethereal red/orange/yellow flames the moment she started powering up and bringing forth her energy. The light just got more intense as the flames built in strength until she was blocked from view and it seemed that her clothes had gone up in the flames she generated. Instead, the heat and fire embraced her and covered her where she needed it. This lasted but moments as the flames and fire spread across her entire body and suddenly became solid. Around her clenching and unclenching fists, the fire forged itself into yellow-golden talons, red and gold gauntlets with flame like patterns covering her arms. Her legs were encased in flame only to have that flame melt away into gold-lined red armor, a battle skirt forming around her waists, and heels at her red-booted feet. Her chest was ablaze with raw power and heat one moment, and the next it burned away to reveal the red and gold crest of armor with the sign of the raven emblazoned across her finely shaped chest in gold outline. Her brown hair gathered itself up as the helmet formed around her head, the fire of her very soul pouring from eyes and mouth. The masked depiction of a supernatural warrior covered her pretty face as her dark brown hair turned into a wild mane of orange hair that hung down her back, her eyes filled with fiery golden energy shining out from beneath the mask. In a final burst of fiery power, jets of yellow-orange flame erupted from her back, quickly forming themselves into her orange flame-feather wings, which flapped once before settling into position, able to attack and defend at a moments notice.

Once the transformations had completed, and the glare from the excess energy faded, Willow, Kendra, Giles and Jenny all stared in amazement at the small collection of armored warriors. The average height was seven to eight feet in height, but their build made it seem perfectly natural. Like the world around them was smaller rather than them being bigger.

"Amazing," Kendra gasped in awe.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Willow pointed. The four warriors were squaring off now.

`_So_` Buffy asked, extending her armored wings as they stood across from each other, `_How exactly is this supposed to work? Any rules, time outs, things like that? Or do we just... go?_`

`_Heh,_` Jason chuckled, shrugging his silver-striped shoulders. He was by far the biggest of the four of them, his armored form layered with heavy plate armor on top of heavy plate armor it appeared, though all directly proportional to his size and shape. `_Yeah, I guess I was a little vague earlier wasn't I?_`

`_OK then,_` he said, `_here's how we do this. Firstly, this is just training, we're not trying to kill each other. This is all about getting you three familiar with your new capabilities now that you've achieved full 100% Chi-Armor. We'll do this about once a week, just to keep in practice. This is also an opportunity to learn what attacks or other powers you may have in this form. But it will also show you your limitations, and there _are_ limitations to your new forms. But such limits are unique to the individual. Buffy probably has the highest endurance out of all of us, but Xander may be stronger in some areas, and Cordelia quicker, or just more agile. That's what this is for._`

`_Doesn't really answer the question on rules, now does it?_` Xander pointed out.

Jason, though it was impossible to tell, seemed to roll his eyes and continued in the silent telepathic method they had when armored up. `_Fine. Rules are, no Kill or Final Attacks. No getting back in if you are knocked out or your armor falls. No blowing up the whole area. Other than that, free-for-all. You want more, make up your own, just don't expect the others to play by them. Can we get started now?_`

`_Yeah, yeah, yeah,_` Buffy grumbled and flapped her wings to get some lift, though at times it appeared she could fly without moving the wings, like they were symbolic more than necessary.

`_Good, then lets go!_` Jason cried and immediately he was in motion, charging straight for the still grounded Cordelia.

Cordelia saw him coming and appeared to be frozen, but at the last possible second, her own wings flapped and she was airborne less than an eye-blink later.

`_Lightning Ball!_` he raised his right hand, tracking the flame-winged warrior.

Instantly, bolts of white electricity shot out, exploding all around Cordelia's armored form. It was all she could do to keep dodging, let alone mount a proper defense. Finally she flew high enough that she could dodge more effectively, and Jason's lightning blasts weren't reaching her. So he raised his other hand and called out, `_Lightning Ball!_`

Another wave of energy blasts shot up, filling the sky over the quarry with paralyzing blasts of electricity. Cordelia and Buffy both were forced to dodge rather than counter attack.

`_Heh, looks like fun,_` Xander commented, then shouted while raising his own hands to the heavens, `_Lightning Barrage!_`

From Xander, a series of fist-sized balls of condensed lightning formed and then shot into the air, two at a time. Once they reached a certain altitude, usually wherever Buffy and Cordelia were at the moment, they both exploded with concussive force that forced the fliers to abandon the sky for the time being.

Buffy dove at high speed, faster than either of the lightning users could track, and skimmed the ground from mere inches, with her wings spread wide and flat. Aiming for Xander first, Buffy felt what would happen and how to trigger the attack. Taking a metaphorical breath, she focused her energies and called out the attack.

`_Talon Wing Dive!_`

Instantly, her armored wings began to glow with a hot white light and her ground speed increased dramatically. Before Xander could even process what he was seeing, Buffy had already struck and was streaking past him in a blaze of white light. Moments, maybe not even a full second, after the winged warrior had passed, the very air all around Xander _exploded_ in a concussive blast that sent him flying and crashing into the wall of the quarry.

Buffy didn't bother taking the time to celebrate or check to see if he was all right. So long as his armor was on, she knew he'd be fine. Instead, she turned her attention to Jason and planned on making the same charging attack, but by then she realized she should have attacked him first.

`_Lightning Ball!_` A hundred electrical charges blew up in her face, forcing her to veer off.

`_OK, enough of playing on the sidelines! Firestarters!_` Cordelia cried, and pointing her hands towards Jason. Instantly, a spark formed and rapidly grew to a flame, then a fire, and by the time it actually reached Jason it was an inferno, forcing the white and silver armored warrior to retreat.

That wasn't all though, as Cordelia soon discovered she could control the fire like it was an extension of herself. Directing ropes of flame to bind and whip the lightning warrior was as easy as wriggling her fingers while sorting through clothes. She even created some fire-ravens to fly around and dive-bomb her teacher to distract him further.

`_Heh!_` Jason said as he dodged the various fiery explosions, `_Impressive Cordelia. Most impressive. You're learning. Now it's time for the next lesson._`

He took a different stance from the one that was for his standard attack. He was hunched down and was grasping one arm with the other, and lightning was beginning to pool in the held hand. Soon, the energy reached a critical mass and the bolts of energy took on a bluish tint, screaming with the sheer amount of power held within such a small space. It sounded like a thousand hornets tearing each other to shreds in raw fury.

`_Lightning Edge!_` he called and suddenly streaked forward like _he_ was made of lightning! The hand holding the charge of raw electricity was being dragged behind, and though it was several feet above the ground, the energy was so powerful that the earth was torn asunder in its passing, shooting up a dust cloud of solid stone fragments.

`_Cordelia! MOVE!_` Buffy screamed at her fellow winged warrior. Seeing that she wasn't going to make it, Buffy made a move of her own and dive-bombed towards the onrushing lightning warrior.

`_Soaring Cyclone!_` she screamed, though she thought she was doing a 'Talon Wing Dive', the words just popped out of her head. Instead of her wings glowing and expanding though, this time her forearm guards lit up like halogen lamps, and as she met Jason's charging attack with her own, she raised her arms up to meet the white armor's lightning attack, which he also brought forward upon seeing Buffy diving at him.

There was an explosion of energy and when it passed, both of them were knocked back on their buts, Buffy's wings skewed all over the place. Jason managed to sit up and shook his armored head a bit to clear out the cobwebs. Buffy lay there for a minute longer until her wings twitched slightly and the next thing any of them saw, she was back in the air ready for more.

`_What the heck was that?_` she wanted to know.

`_A charging attack,_` Jason explained to her. `_What you used is known as a counter-attack. Or rather a counter charging attack. There are five basic attacks that can be used with Chi-Armor. Physical, as in punching and kicking the other guy into submission. Elemental, such as your Razor Winds and Cordelia's Firestarters. Energy bursts, much like my Lightning Ball attack and Xander's Lightning Barrage. Charging attacks, gathering raw ambient energy and delivering them at high speed with greater force, as you've just seen. And finally there are the Ultimate Attacks. Usually they just look like giant energy beams, but they're actually the fusion of pure Chi-Energy and raw Elemental Energy to create something incredibly potent and powerful._`

`_Whoa,_` Xander couldn't help commenting.

`_Now, are we done here, or should we get back to training?_` he asked in a light, teasing tone.

On the sidelines, Kendra and Willow were looking on with a bit of jealousy and a lot of awe.

"I... we need to attain our armors," Kendra whispered to the redhead beside her. "Today."

"I'm open to whatever ideas you've got on how to do that," Willow replied, not taking her eyes off of the scene before her.

"..." Kendra was silent for a time, trying to think of a way to do this. Suddenly, it came to her.

"The others," she continued whispering, mindful of Giles and Jenny a few feet away, "They gained their own armors through conflict. Facing someone or something that pushed them to their limits. Buffy faced a strong demon, Xander a master vampire, and Cordelia a pack of vampires."

"It was just one," Willow sourly corrected her.

"What if," Kendra paused and then pressed on, "What if we faced each other?"

Willow blinked and finally tore her eyes away from the clash of titans below them. She turned to stare at the mocha-skinned Slayer with incredulous eyes. "Jason was having us do that anyway. Face each other with the ghost armors and learn how to use them."

"Yes, but he always stopped it from getting too serious, yes?" Kendra pointed out.

"OK, yes, but," Willow tried to protest.

"No," Kendra cut her off. "We can do this. We just go at each other until one or both of us manifests true Chi-Armor. Not stopping for anything."

"How about if one of our armors fail?" Willow pointed out. Kendra just shrugged and nodded.

Willow considered it from all sides and angles before finally she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. All right, let's do this. Let's get away from Jenny and Giles first though." Kendra just quietly nodded her agreement and they both snuck back away from the ledge and to a different section of the quarry. It wasn't that hard to do, not with both teachers' attention riveted to the scene of the other Chi-Armor warriors battling.

Both girls stood apart from one another and took some deep, cleansing breaths before they tensed and the opaque gray-white ghost armors formed around them with a muted flash of light. Nodding silently to one another, they charged at one another and started pounding away at one another.

Back with the others, Jason was "teaching" them about how to control the power of their attacks, and the difference between training level and 'I-Will-Kill-You-With-One-Blow' level. Of course this involved throwing attack after attack at them while they either dodged or tried to withstand the onslaught.

Each of them had tried out their own Charging and Counter-Charging attacks, and several more low level counter attacks too. Cordelia had discovered another attack that was her energy blast called _Fire Blast_, which was a fancy way of saying she could shoot out huge fireballs. After a solid hour, they were starting to feel a bit drained, but all of the were more confident in their abilities and their control over them.

Just as Jason was about to call an end to the training session for the day, they all felt a spike of energy not too far away. What was so interesting about it wasn't the level of power, but the fact that there were _two_ of them.

`_What's that?_` Cordelia asked when they all turned to look for the source.

Almost in reply to the fire warrior's question, 99 percent Chi-Armor Willow and Kendra blasted into the stone quarry, each going all out against one another in a non-stop display of violence. Even when they hit the ground hard enough to blast a six-foot deep crater, they barely even noticed, just getting right back up and throwing more punches and kicks at one another.

`_What the heck are they doing?!_` Buffy screamed. Despite not seeing any distinguishing features, they all knew that the two were Kendra and Willow.

`_Uhh..._` Jason was at a loss for a moment, and then they all felt that same Chi-Energy spike. Beneath his armor, Jason blinked in surprise and couldn't help laughing out loud. `_It would seem, that our wayward comrades felt slighted at being behind the rest of us and decided to rectify it._`

`_Huh?_` Buffy, Cordelia and Xander all asked at once.

`_They're trying to reach 100 percent Chi-Armor by fighting each other, the same way you three fought more powerful foes and gained your own Chi-Armor. And from the looks of it, they're succeeding._` Jason explained to them.

As they watched, they couldn't help but notice that every time the two ghost-armored warriors clashed now, there was the vaguest impression of another armor briefly overlapping the ghost armors they wore now. It didn't last more than a moment, but it was still happening.

`_Uh, how long are they going to have to do that?_` Xander asked, pointing.

`_At the rate they're going?_` Jason replied, `_Roughly the next hundred to thousand years._`

`_How about we help them out a bit then?_` Buffy suggested. She extended her wings and called out, `_Air Cutters!_`

Instantly a dozen bird-sized arcs of yellow-green energy shot out from her armored wings and went straight for the dueling pair. At the same time, Xander called, `_Lightning Barrage!_` and Cordelia `_Fire Blast!_`, and a pair of lightning blasts and a basketball sized fireball shot towards them too.

Reacting to the sudden threat, the pair jumped apart and began to address the attacks headed their way. For a moment, they seemed to struggle, trying to do something but being held back. Until the attacks hit them and exploded in their faces, literally.

"AAAHHHHH!" Willow screamed, thrown back and armor-less.

"NYEEHHH!" Kendra cried out, the same as Willow without her armor.

For a second, the three that had attacked froze, unsure of what they had just done, but thankfully they both got back up before anything else could be said or done. When the two girls got to their feet however, it was just as clear that something had changed. Jason had seen it in them long before they'd been aware of it, if they ever had been. A primal fear, of trust, of risk, of something, but fear nonetheless. It had been holding them back and keeping them from ascending.

The others too had that fear, but in battle had ridden themselves of it. Buffy, when she saw her friends about to be attacked had thrown away all care of personal safety and gotten rid of whatever fear remained in the simple action of protecting them above herself. Xander, well Jason surmised he could had transformed into his Chi-Armor the day after he started training him, but he had consciously held onto that fear and been aware of it the whole time. When he faced Drusilla, something in him or something about her had made him decide to discard that fear finally. Cordelia, her fear had disappeared shortly after the dream walk with her Animal Spirit Guide, but her confidence had been lost along with that fear. Over time, Jason saw it being built up until finally she had manifested her Chi-Armor and she was an even better person for it.

Willow and Kendra had held onto their fear the longest, and it was all that was holding them back. Seeing their friends attack them and their approaching death was a wake-up call and that was all that was needed for them. Both girls clenched their fists and summoned their energies once more.

"POWER UP!" they both shouted together, and were instantly shrouded in a blinding light.

Willow was surrounded by a blue light that reminded one of the sea itself. Her clothes dissolved in the light so she felt as if she were back in the dream state with Dolphin. Waves of energy flowed from her like the ocean in a storm, creating a torrent of power around her body. Around her arms and legs, they formed tightly to her skin and then began to build up on itself until in a flash of sea-blue light, a royal blue and golden yellow lined armor appeared over them. Her legs stretched out and the same heeled-boots, but colored the same blue and gold formed, a battle skirt forming around her waist at the same moment. Her torso was covered by the ocean-blue energy, and as it built up, patterns could be seen forming in the waves until there was another flash of light, the stylized plate armor appeared and settled. Her fiery red hair flew up around her face like a mermaids before being covered by the same wave of power and a faceless helmet, styled after the ancient Roman helmets, minus the plumes, formed and covered her head. The blue metal with yellow-gold lining and sea and dolphin-styled patterns gleamed like the moonlight on the waves, and glowing blue eyes shone from beneath the shadowed interior of the helmet. The shoulder pads of the armor were just as large and ornate as Jason's, except the wave golden lines made one think of the water more than a tiger. Her fists clenched and she spread her limbs to stretch before snapping back to a fighting pose, the waves of power crashing all around her at the same moment.

Kendra felt like she was surrounded by the very earth itself, but not in a smothering way, more like she was being held and protected by it. Brown particles of earth, the color of dirt and mud, flew up in a swarm, but where they touched her there was no trace of dirt at all. Kendra hunched over int a fetal position as she felt her clothing leave her with just the sensation of being held by the planet she protected. The brown particles collected, forming a shell around her until you could no longer see the naked girl. When it reached a certain thickness though, the giant ball of earth exploded outwards suddenly and what stood in Kendra's place was a brown-armored warrior in metallic armor built for speed and endurance, fashioned after the more modern concept of armor. The lining was a deep emerald green, and the patterns were indeed copied from modern day armor with an almost camouflage style around the legs and arms, though the torso was more like a uniform's version of camo, the browns and green forming straight lines and sharp curves. The helmet was round, the eyepieces more like goggles, and the faceplate was grilled and solid. The only thing that didn't exactly match was a single symbol placed directly over her heart. It was a green bear claw. Kendra flexed her limbs and then did a flip and landed in a fighting stance the moment the explosion finished.

`_Well, color me impressed_,` Jason commented with a rueful shake of his head. `_Looks like we're going to be extending this training session by a bit._`

`_That's OK,_` Willow interrupted him.

`_We understand plenty after watching everyone today, and now we understand how to do it as well,_` Kendra added.

`_Here, let me show you,_` the compact, yet still 7-foot-tall blue and gold warrior commented.

She reached her fist high in the sky, and then clenched it tight and brought it down to strike at the earth beneath her feet in the same moment.

`_TSUNAMI!_` she screamed, and a literal wave of water erupted out of the ground and soon swamped the other Chi-Armored warriors, save Kendra at her side. Even Buffy and Cordelia couldn't react soon enough to get out of the way.

`_Allow me, Willow,_` Kendra stepped forward and cracked her armor-covered knuckles. She stood at the same height as her blue and yellow companion, but her presence seemed even larger all of a sudden.

`_Geyser Rush!_` she cried out and punched a fist towards the downed armored figures.

This would have looked very silly, save for the fact that the moment after she punched, a very real geyser exploded upwards out of the ground, on par with anything Old Faithful ever produced. When the hot water finally subsided, the others waited a moment, to see if their two new comrades would continue their 'demonstration' and when it appeared they wouldn't, they all approached on foot.

`_OK, I think we're done for the day, we can pick it up again tomorrow,_` Jason told them. Once they all agreed, he simply relaxed and in a blinding flash of light, the white and silver armored form vanished and Jason reappeared in his street clothes.

Following his example, the rest of them, even Willow and Kendra, relaxed their own energies and five more flashes of light later, they were standing there like nothing at all had happened. Though they each looked a little tired, they certainly did not look like they'd just been through an hour long fight that nearly devastated the landscape.

"Congratulations everyone," Jason complimented them all, "You are now officially Chi-Warriors."

"Woohoo!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Alright!" Xander shouted.

"Yes!" Cordelia cheered.

"Yay!" Willow bounced up and down.

Kendra just smiled and nodded confidently.

"Of course just because you can now summon Chi-Armor doesn't mean you know how to use it properly," Jason said. "So we'll be coming back to continue your training for as long as necessary."

"Aw, c'mon Jase," Xander moaned.

"Yeah, don't ruin the mood," Buffy warned him.

Jason laughed and nodded. "You're right. You all did good. Training can wait till tomorrow. So tonight, let's go out and celebrate. You guys certainly deserve it after all the hard work you've put in. And I'm certainly not one to rain on anyone's parade."

"All right already, enough with the speeches," Cordelia grinned. "Let's go!"

"YEAH!" they all shouted, laughing and acting like the teenagers they should have been.

Watching from the ledge, Giles and Jenny smiled down at these young people that were so inspiring and impressed them so much. They could only hope the peaceful times would last so they could enjoy it while they could. Because as much as they would celebrate that night, they all knew that the evil and darkness was just beyond the horizon. Yet, the reason that they stood there, the reason that they were celebrating what they had done, was all so they could stand as a vanguard against the night, keeping the world save and the light shining.

END Episode Five

End of "_Vanguard Slayer_"

Is this the end of the story? It may be, but there are still lots of unanswered questions. What happened with Spike and Drusilla? What will the Omega Order do next after losing two agents in Sunnydale? What more does Jason have to teach the gang? And what does it mean for life on the Hellmouth?

To get the answers to these questions, Please Review and look forward to the sequel saga "Vanguard Slayer II : Beta"


End file.
